## 5 Conclusions  
The variety of pathogens isolated in the present study is a source of health concern, as the consumption of RTE foods, has continuously increased, consistent with the consumers' ever-changing eating habits. For this type of product, the preservation techniques are based primarily on the use of low temperatures, which do not prevent the growth of some psychotrophic bacteria, and given this RTE food is eaten without cooking, there is also no control of mesophilic pathogens. Therefore, there is a need to increase the level of attention and awareness, following good hygiene practices throughout the food chain (from farm to fork), notably by producers, to prevent pathogens contamination during preparation, handling and storage. Among the preventive activities able to significantly reduce the health risk is the addition of natural antimicrobial compounds (essential oils, plant extracts, or bacteriocins) to reduce the amounts of preservatives added in RTE products [44; 45]. Natural antimicrobials show an antioxidant and antimicrobial activity against a wide range of food pathogens and spoilage bacteria, in order to extend RTE sandwiches shelf-life without altering the sensory properties [46]. The increasing importance attributed to the quality and safety of food has prompted the European Union in 2004 to draw up a series of regulations, which entered into force in Italy in 2006, known as the \"Hygieene Package\". The EC regulation 852/2004 [47] is responsible for ensuring the hygiene and safety of food products \"from farm to table\", thus, from the production area (farm) up to consumers (table). It sets both general and specific hygiene requirements to be applied to personnel, means of transport and places where food is processed and sold. It also requires the implementation of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system, applying the principle of self-control which incentives food business operators to adopt various measures to monitor the healthiness of the finished product. In conclusion, our results show that sandwiches could be a health risk, in particular for susceptible individuals, as they can be a vehicle for the transmission of food-borne pathogens. The quantification and identification of bacterial strains isolated from the various sandwiches show how products with more components, and consequently more manipulated are the most contaminated ones. In particular, the isolation of _S. aureus_ from a lot of samples leads us to believe that food handling is the most likely cause of bacterial contamination, followed by contamination caused by an inaccurate washing of the vegetables present in the food [29], as evidenced by the presence of other species like _Listeria_, _Enterococcus_, _Enterobacteriaceae_ and bacteria belonging to the genera _Acinetobacter_, _Aerococcus_ and _Aeromonas_. These results underline, once again, the need for better hygienic conditions during food processing, together with the choice of quality raw products. Given the presence of possible hygienic deficiencies in the production chain of some products examined, careful controls are of fundamental importance, both during the food processing and marketing, to avoid the onset of infections difficult to treat, especially in weaker subjects. Conceptualization, P.M. and R.I.; methodology R.I.; software, R.I. and C.C. ; investigation, S.C. and R.I.; data curation, S.C. and C.C. ; writing--original draft preparation, S.C.; writing--review and editing, P.M and R.I. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research received no external funding. * [PERSON] et al. (2020) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] Evaluation of hygienic quality of food served in Universities canteens of northern Portugal. _Indian J. Microbiol._**2020**, _60_, 107-114. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
* [PERSON] et al. (2016) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON] Staphylococcus isolated from ready-to-eat meat--Identification, antibiotic resistance and toxin gene profile. _Int.