Spice jars used in the meal, the researchers discovered, had been far and away the most cross-contaminated spot — 48 % of these used had been discovered to harbor micro organism from the turkey.
The examine, just lately revealed in the Journal of Food Protection, famous that whereas shoppers might have heard concerning the significance of cleansing reducing boards or wiping down handles, they might not have thought of their spice jars. “Consumers may not necessarily think to wipe down or decontaminate spice containers after cooking because they are not typically targeted as high risk for cross-contamination in consumer messaging,” the examine says.
In the examine, researchers watched 371 individuals put together seasoned turkey burgers — which had been inoculated with a innocent tracer micro organism typically used as a “surrogate” for the norovirus — and a premade salad, utilizing sterilized kitchens of various sizes, from apartment-style ones to instructing kitchens in extension facilities. Once the meals had been performed, the scientists collected swabs from 12 surfaces, together with utensils and counter tops.
Most surfaces examined constructive 20 % of the time or much less, in contrast with the spice jars’ 48 %. And the micro organism discovered on the spices was in greater concentrations than in different areas, in line with the examine, though reducing boards and trash-bin lids had been additionally discovered in related concentrations. That “could be due to their close proximity to the region in which turkey patty handling occurred, the lack of attempts made to wash hands between handling the ground turkey and seasoning the patties with the spices, the lack of attempts made to clean or sanitize the spice containers after handling, and the high number of times the containers were handled,” the examine says.
The outcomes shocked even the meals security specialists conducting the examine, stated Donald Schaffner, a professor in the meals science division on the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences who led the analysis. “We had not seen evidence of spice container contamination before,” Schaffner told Food Safety News. “Most research on the cross-contamination of kitchen surfaces due to handling of raw meat or poultry products has focused on kitchen cutting boards or faucet handles and has neglected surfaces like spice containers, trash-bin lids and other kitchen utensils. This makes this study and similar studies from members of this group more comprehensive than previous studies.”
So what ought to dwelling cooks make of the examine? Benjamin Chapman, the pinnacle of the division of agricultural and human sciences at North Carolina State University and a senior writer of the examine, stated he doesn’t suppose individuals want to right away douse their spice racks in bleach. Many pathogens turn out to be much less potent on surfaces, he famous.
But he stated the findings level to a necessity for extra hand-washing through the meal preparation course of, not simply earlier than and after. “We’ve tried to distill messages into things that are simple, like after handling meat, wash your hands,” he stated in an interview with The Washington Post. Some individuals, although, might consider the seasoning step as being a part of the dealing with of meat, he famous. “The more we look at what people actually do in the kitchen, we realize we have to be more prescriptive — like, when you’re done handling a turkey patty, you need to wash your hands before you grab that spice jar.”
Spices are a stealthy potential germ magnet, Chapman stated. “It’s a hand touch point, but not one we think about, because it’s mixed into the meal preparation.”
Cooks who’ve performed a superb job of hand-washing don’t must be as vigilant, however when you suppose you might be vulnerable to cross-contamination, Chapman steered wiping spice jars down with a soapy material and ending with a wipe of a disinfecting kitchen spray. And he famous that not all meals are equal-opportunity germ-spreaders. The dish he and the opposite researchers got here up with for the examine — a patty of floor turkey meat that requires forming by hand — was designed to be a “worst-case scenario.”