Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015 - 22

during recorded meal preparations. However, in a survey
done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration more than
two decades ago, 26% of consumers did not clean a cutting
board after using it to cut raw meat or chicken (3). If this is
an actual shift in food-handling practices, it is encouraging,
since cross-contamination events due to improper use
or cleaning of cutting boards have been implicated in
foodborne illness outbreaks (9).
Use of hand towels was frequently observed for cleaning
contaminated unwashed hands, cleaning counter tops,
and drying clean utensils. Contamination of hand towels
made up 6% of the contamination episodes. Campylobacter
isolation from hand towels that were suspected of being
used to dry inadequately washed hands and wipe kitchen
work surfaces has reported (34).
Final cook temperature
The only certain way to monitor final cook temperature is
to use a thermometer, but in the current study, only a small
proportion of the households reported or were observed
using thermometers. Twenty-five percent of households
reported regularly using a thermometer to check final cook
temperatures of cooked poultry, but only three percent
of the households were observed using a thermometer to
monitor final cook temperatures. In addition, almost half
of the households reported either not knowing the final
cook temperature (37%) or thinking that the final cook
temperature was less than 165°F (10%). This number is
lower than that reported by Phang et al., in whose study
65% of subjects responded they did not know the final cook
temperature for burgers (31). Despite the unreliability of
checking the inside of chicken, all of the households were
observed checking this for adequacy of cooking. Lack of
thermometer use to check the final cook temperature has
similarly been reported in other studies (18, 21).
The order of when different types of foods are
prepared can have an impact on the overall risk of crosscontamination. Among those in the study who prepared
side dishes, 93% percent prepared side dishes either while

or after handling raw poultry. Another observational study
reported 100% of individuals in the study were observed
touching side dishes (i.e., ready-to-eat foods) after handling
raw poultry (31). As can be expected, individuals who
prepared side dishes before handling raw poultry or not at
all had significantly fewer cross-contaminations compared
with those preparing during or after. Therefore, encouraging
consumers to prepare side dishes before handling raw
poultry products could significantly reduce the risk of
acquiring foodborne illnesses.
Cleaning/Sanitizing
During the course of meal preparations, 62.5% (35/56)
of subjects cross-contaminated their counter tops, whereas
only 7% (4/56) of subjects were observed partially cleaning
or sanitizing contaminated counter top surfaces using
disposable wipes. None of them were observed properly
washing, rinsing and sanitizing food contact surfaces.
In contrast, 77% percent of households reported using
sanitizers on a regular basis. The following detergents
and sanitizers were reported in use: Lysol, Clorox wipes
(frequent response), All Purpose, Simple Green, Pine
Sol, and regular dish soaps. Some bacterial pathogens
such as Salmonella are known to attach and survive on
various kitchen surfaces (19, 32, 45). Therefore, sanitizing
or cleaning of food and non-food contact surfaces with
appropriate types of sanitizers is important in preventing
cross-contamination. Twenty-five percent of the
households were observed using wash rags to wipe surfaces
contaminated with raw poultry. In some instances, the same
wash rags were also used to clean counter tops.
Consumers should be educated to treat each package
of raw poultry product as potentially contaminated with
pathogens and to handle each package with caution to
minimize cross-contaminations. Identifying the barriers as
to why consumers' food safety knowledge is not translated
into actual practices can result in successful intervention
efforts (14, 15).

REFERENCES
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pathogens in food sources in the United
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4. Centers for Disease Control and
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Food Protection Trends

Food Safer to Eat. Available at: http://
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January/February

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http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/FoodSafety/ http://www.eatright.org/nutritiontrends/ http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/heidelberg-02-13

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