Microbial contamination and occurrence of Bacillus cereus sensu lato, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli on food handlers' hands in mass catering: Comparison of the glove juice and swab methods

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F22%3A00125360" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/22:00125360 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/62157124:16270/22:43880079

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713521007052?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713521007052?via%3Dihub</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2021.108567" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.foodcont.2021.108567</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Microbial contamination and occurrence of Bacillus cereus sensu lato, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli on food handlers' hands in mass catering: Comparison of the glove juice and swab methods

Original language description

Evaluation and repeated monitoring of a range of indicators reflecting hand hygiene practices in food handlers are of crucial importance to prevent foodborne outbreaks. There are several methods for assessing microbial contamination of the hands; however, these methods might provide inconsistent results depending on the microorganisms present. Therefore, we assessed the variability in total microbial counts and occurrence of Bacillus cereus sensu lato, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli on the hands of food handlers at three catering establishments (two staff canteens and one school canteen) using two sampling techniques. In total, 63 and 61 samples were obtained using the swab (cellulose sponge sticks [SS]) and glove juice (GJ) methods, respectively. The GJ method provided significantly higher values of total microbial contamination than the SS method (P &lt; 0.001). Conversely, swabbing appeared to be more sensitive in the detection of B. cereus s. l. (SS, 73.0% vs GJ, 8.2%, P &lt; 0.001) and S. aureus (SS, 27.0% vs GJ, 8.2%, P = 0.009). E. coli was detected only once (1.6%) by the SS method. Moreover, the possible contribution of the food handlers to the spread of pathogenic bacteria was evaluated. B. cereus s. l. was detected in 41.1% of the samples. All isolates (100%) carried at least one or more enterotoxin gene, confirming the high pathogenic potential of B. cereus s. l. In addition, S. aureus was found in 17.7% of the samples with the dominant seg and sei (23.1%) staphylococcal enterotoxin gene combination. In conclusion, the GJ method appears to be more effective for total microbial count evaluation, while the SS method is preferred for recovering foodborne pathogens. From the viewpoint of food safety, it is necessary to identify virulence determinants of the isolates to obtain further insights into their pathogenic potential.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

21101 - Food and beverages

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Food Control

ISSN

0956-7135

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

133

Issue of the periodical within the volume

March 2022

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

8

Pages from-to

1-8

UT code for WoS article

000710517700014

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85116900676