Adequações de Unidade de Alimentação e Nutrição às mudanças impostas pela pandemia por COVID-19: um estudo de revisão.

Abstract

With the discovery of the new Coronavirus at the end of 2019, and the consequent change in the population's life in different aspects, many commercial segments needed to undergo adaptations to continue providing their services, and among the various sectors, we can highlight that of food, with the Food and Nutrition Units (UAN's) as an example of these services. There are still no studies that prove the transmission of the virus through food, however, there is a possibility that the dispersion occurs through utensils and packaging for their preparation and packaging, respectively, and by the handlers themselves. To avoid contagion of the population through the aforementioned commercial means, there was a need to intensify and implement new methods to combat the virus. Therefore, the objective of this research was to carry out a literature review in order to show which security measures against COVID-19 were implemented by the FNUs during the pandemic. It refers to a systematic review study with data collection processed through primary sources, through surveys and bibliographic analysis of productions published in the years 2020 to 2022. The research of the studies took place in the Scientific Electronic Library Online databases ( SciELO), PubMed and Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS). The following descriptors were used: “Pandemic and UAN”, “Restaurants and Pandemic” and “Collective Food and COVID-19”. A total of 178 documents were retrieved, and after a detailed analysis, a total of four works were selected that fit the research objectives, justifying the small amount of studies used due to the scarcity of works related to the topic. In general, with the analysis of the documents, success was evidenced in the adaptation of the FNU's observed in the studies regarding the new scenario experienced, since they intensified the use of good manufacturing practices and the intensification of the use of PPE by employees, in addition to implementing new actions such as social distancing, availability of gel alcohol dispensers in the units and the use of social media. Thus, it appears that adherence to the new habits that were adopted by employees and diners are important means to control the mitigation of SARS-CoV-2, and also, the important role of the nutritionist for awareness and control regarding the necessary training to fighting the virus in food spaces.