The potential for cross-contamination in the kitchen via counters, cutting boards, and other hand and food-contact surfaces, after preparation of raw chicken contaminated either naturally or seeded with marker organisms, has been demonstrated by several studies. Handling of poultry in domestic kitchens has been shown to widely disseminate bacteria throughout the kitchen (De Boer and Hahne 1990 Humphrey et al. The food with the greatest potential risk is raw poultry meat. Raw food, whether from vegetable or uncooked/undercooked animal meat sources can be contaminated with human pathogens and transmitted to humans (Scott et al.
1982 Scott and Bloomfield 1990 Humphrey et al.
Several studies conducted in homes and in the laboratory show that Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, non-typhoid Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus are the primary pathogens of concern (De Wit et al. ( 2008), up to 87% of reported foodborne outbreaks are associated with food prepared or consumed in the home. Although the most common cause of foodborne acquired infections has been attributed to the global food distribution and international travels, in European countries such as England, Wales and the Netherlands, 80% of Salmonella and Campylobacter infections are acquired in the home (Scott 1999 Medrano-Félix et al. 2011 Sinclair and Gerba 2011 Van Asselt et al. There is growing awareness of the foodborne illness transmission from household exposures and the importance of cross-contamination (Medrano-Félix et al. In the United states the CDC ( 2012) estimated that 2♴ million people to be affected by campylobacteriosis. The annual cost of foodborne illnesses caused by the five most common pathogens alone ( Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Toxoplasma gondii, and norovirus) has been estimated at 12♷ billion (Batz et al. In the United States, foodborne pathogens cause an estimated 48 million cases of illnesses, 128 000 hospitalizations and 3000 deaths per year (CDC 2011 Scallan et al. 1% of Europeans suffer campylobacteriosis (Humphrey et al. It is estimated that 1♸ million childhood deaths are associated with disease-causing organisms acquired from food consumption with developing countries having the greatest number of cases (WHO 2008). Foodborne pathogens cause a broad range of diarrhoeal to flu-like symptoms (Medrano-Félix et al.
This risk assessment shows that the use of disinfectant wipes to decontaminate surface areas after chicken preparation reduces the annual risk of Camp. jejuni infections up to 99♲%, reducing the risk from 2 : 10 to 2 : 1000.įoodborne infection remains a significant worldwide problem (Humphrey et al. The use of disinfectant wipes after the preparation of raw chicken meat reduces the risk of Camp. jejuni infections. The disinfectant-wipe intervention reduced the risk of Camp. jejuni infection by 2–3 orders on all fomites. Several assumptions were used as input parameters in the classical Beta-Poisson model to determine the risk of infection. The use of a disinfectant-wipe intervention to disinfect contaminated surface area was also assessed. Using a Monte Carlo simulation of the risk of transferring Camp. jejuni strain A3249, from various surfaces to hands and subsequently transferring it to the mouth was forecasted. In the present study, we conducted a quantitative microbial risk assessment forecasting the exposure to Campylobacter jejuni contaminated surfaces during preparation of chicken fillets and how using a disinfectant-wipe intervention to clean a contaminated work area decreases the risk of infection following the preparation of raw chicken fillet in a domestic kitchen.