Determining the Occupational Health and Safety of Workers in The Food Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan

Background: For organizations, conducting work in a safe environment has become mandatory under the provisions and guidelines provided by international and local laws. Occupational health and safety (OHS) standards have become a requisite in almost every industry these days; however, many organizations in developing countries are negligent at adhering to the safety measures, and there is also an absence of proper monitoring. Objective: Our objective was to determine the occupational health and safety standards that are prevailing in the food manufacturing sector of Pakistan. For this, we approached several food manufacturing companies and conducted interviews with quality assurance managers and health and safety executives to evaluate and analyze the workplace conditions to understand their OHS practices. Methods: We conducted 7 interviews with quality assurance managers in the food manufacturing and services companies of Pakistan. The interview guide was used for eliciting responses and a coding method was used to arrive at the themes of the data gathered. Results: The interviews conducted with quality assurance managers and those working to ensure that safety measures are practiced in their company, showed that the export-oriented food manufacturing companies in Pakistan are following OHS standards, as it has become a necessity, with numerous benefits such as ensuring worker safety, maintaining company reputation. However, the extent to which these measures are implemented and strictly followed varies, as there are certain issues that arise when companies try to follow and implement OHS practices The problems vary from company to company however, most of them relate to worker adaptability, costs, and training needs.  OHS situation in local firms is concerning. Most of them do not have HSE officers, not the concept of toolbox talk, no preventive and safety measures.  These poor practices make the situation unsafe, which lead to fatalities Conclusion: By establishing a national framework for policies and legislations as per the conventions of ILO for a better workplace environment along with proper law enforcement improvement in occupational health and safety domain can be achieved.      

Synthesis of Γ-Ketoesters Via Acid Catalysed Ring Opening of Succinic Anhydride With Substituted Benzyl Alcohols

The thesis consists of two parts. The part-I deals with the synthesis of γ-ketoesters using succinic anhydride as a starting material. The part-II is about extraction, isolation, purification and characterization of the chemical constituents from Coriandrum sativum Linn (Umbelliferae). It is an established fact that γ-ketoesters and their precursors are valuable synthons in synthetic organic chemistry. These intermediates have potential applications in the preparation of compounds of significant importance. In view of the important applications of γ-ketoesters, a three-step reaction approach has been employed for their synthesis via acid catalyzed ring opening of succinic anhydride with substituted benzyl alcohols. Step-1: Sixty (1-60) new monoesters of succinic acid were prepared using succinic anhydride and alcohols and toluene as a solvent. The catalyst employed was p-toluene sulfonic acid. Step-2: In this step the prepared monoesters on treatment with thionyl chloride were converted to corresponding acid chlorides (1a-60a). Step-3: Finally, using diethyl cadmium reagent, acid chlorides obtained in the step-2 were converted into corresponding novel γ-ketohexanoates (1b-60b). Diethyl cadmium was prepared by employing ethyl magnesium bromide and cadmium bromide. The final products were characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques such as UV, IR, NMR (1H and C) 1D and 2D, COSY-45°, DEPT, HMQC, HMBC, NOE, ROESY, NOESY, mass spectrometry etc. Monoesters (1-29) were screened for biological activity against three fungi and three bacteria following disk diffusion protocol for inhibition zones and agar dilution method for minimum inhibitory concentrations. Their structure activity relationship is also discussed. All of the monoesters except nitro substituted were found to be active against fungi and bacteria. In Part-II seeds of Coriandrum sativum Linn (Umbelliferae) were hydrodistilled for essential oil and the obtained oil was analyzed by gas chromatograogy for its components. β-Linalool with retention time 16.575 min and %age 79.86 was identified as major component by GC-MS. The obtained essential oil was subjected to antifungal and antibacterial activity. Inhibition zones, minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against fungi and bacteria were assessed. Results of these experiments showed that the essential oil was active against investigated microbes. The whole plant (seeds, leaves, stems, flowers) was extracted in 95% aqueous MeOH. The methanolic extract on solvent fractionation and repeated column chromatography on silica gel afforded a bio-active fraction. The fraction on repeated chromatotrax preparative TLC yielded most active fraction which under HPLC RP-18 fractionation afforded thirteen (1-13) compounds. According to our knowledge, since compounds 1-5 have not been reported earlier from plant kingdom and hence can be declared as new entities. The obtained compounds 1-13 were subjected to antifungal and antibacterial activity. Inhibition zones, minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against fungi and bacteria were assessed. For isolates (6-13), cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines (HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW-480) was probed. IC50 of compounds 6-13 against human cancer cell lines HL-60 were also assessed. Compounds (1-3, 6- 13) displayed antimicrobial and cytotoxicity against used human cell lines. Among the tetra-hydroxysaponins (6-9) displayed IC50 =1.37± 0.02, 1.29 ± 0.02, 1.28 ± 0.02, and 1.07 ± 0.02, respectively, and compounds 10-13 displayed significant activity with IC50=1.27± 0.02, 1.02 ± 0.02, 1.02 ± 0.02, and 0.87 ± 0.02, respectively, standard (acarbose) showed IC50 0.82 μM. Structure and relative configuration of the compounds 1-13 was established after recording and analysis of spectroscopic data such as IR, 1D-NMR and 2D NMR (COSY-45, HOHAHA, HMQC, HMBC and ROESY) and mass measurements. The data revealed that isolated compounds are oleane triterpenoids and named as: 1-Oxo-11,21-dihydroxyoleane (1), 1-Oxo-11- hydroxy-21-O-acetyloleane (2), 1-Oxo-11-hydroxy-21-O-angeloyloleane (3), 1-Oxo-11-O-angelo yl-21-O-acetyloleane (4), 1-Oxo-11,21-O-dibenzoyloleane (5), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 2α,3α, 19α,24-tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (6), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 2β,3α,19α,24-tetrahydroxy- 12-ene-oleaenoate (7), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 2α,3β,19α,24-tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (8), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 2β,3β,19α,24-tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (9), 28-β-D-Glucopyrano- syl 2β,3β,19α,24-tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (10), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 2α-O-acetyl ,3α,19α,24-tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (11), 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 3α-O-acetyl,2α,19α,24- tetrahydroxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (12) and 28-β-D-Glucopyranosyl 19α-O-acetyl,2α,3α,24-tetrahy- droxy-12-ene-oleaenoate (13).