Study: These places in the kitchen have the most bacteria

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A recent study found that the jars we store spices in are among the places in the kitchen that have the most pathogens. Namely, the US Department of Food Safety and Inspection at the Department of Agriculture commissioned research to determine the prevalence and degree of cross-contamination of various surfaces in the kitchen during meal preparation.

It is estimated that one in five cases of foodborne illness is contracted at home. However, it is not known exactly how pathogens (microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses that cause disease) are transferred to the kitchen during the preparation of meals, writes GMA.

The scientists instructed 371 subjects to cook food with ground turkey patties containing the harmless MS2 virus, and then took samples from their kitchen surfaces.

They found that 48 percent of the spice jars had microorganisms from turkey, indicating cross-contamination with MS2; that is, jars with spices had the highest concentration of MS2 compared to other kitchen surfaces.

After the subjects prepared the meal, the experts took swabs from 12 areas in the kitchen; including kitchen utensils and food preparation surfaces. The swabs were then transported to a microbiology laboratory at North Carolina State University, where detection of MS2 was performed.

All kitchens, before conducting the experiment, were disinfected with a 10 percent bleach solution, and before the subject entered the kitchen, a control swab was taken from the surface near the sink to ensure that the kitchen environment was not contaminated and that there were no traces of MS2.

The analysis of the swabs showed that in most cases the number of samples that indicated contamination with MS2 was about 20 percent; the exception was the spice jars for which 48 percent of the samples showed evidence of cross-contamination with MS2.

Scientists believe that spice jars are so prone to pathogen invasion because people simply don't clean them as much as they should, that is, they concentrate more on washing work surfaces, kitchen utensils and, for example, cabinet handles.

The research called "Cross-Contamination to Surfaces in Consumer Kitchens with MS2 as a Tracer Organism in Ground Turkey Patties", was published in the Journal of Food Protection.

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