57% of restaurant kitchens contain “unsatisfactory” levels of bacteria, says HPA

Over half of cleaning cloths used in restaurant and takeaway kitchens were found to contain unsatisfactory levels of bacteria, according to research by the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Cloths used in kitchens need to be changed or disinfected frequently to stop bacteria growing which could cause food poisoning. Any breakdown in these procedures means that bacteria can be spread from the cloths to the hands of catering staff and then spread to work surfaces and equipment. 

Where kitchens prepare both raw and ready-to-eat foods, there should be separate cloths for both areas to reduce the risk of spread of bacteria.

The team sampled 133 cloths, from 120 establishments in the North east of England, and found that 56% contained unacceptable levels of bacteria. The most common of which were Enterobacteriaceae (found on 86 cloths) E. coli (21 cloths), Staphylococcus aureus (six cloths) and Listeria (five cloths).

Although the recommended advice for restaurants is to use disposable cloths that are changed regularly, the study found that only a third (32%) of the catering premises reviewed adhered to this. The remaining two thirds (68%) used re-usable cloths and 15% were unsure as to how often these were replaced.

The researchers also found that there was no consistent approach to disinfection of re-usable cloths or in the method of disinfection. The majority disinfected their re-usable cloths every 10-24 hours but a number left it longer than 24 hours and some didn't know how often cloths were disinfected. 

Dr John Piggott, the lead author from the HPA's food, water and environmental microbiology laboratory in Leeds said: "Although many disinfected their cloths using bleach or other disinfectants, soaking does not remove the food on which the bacteria grow.  

"The disinfectant qualities of bleach do wear off after a period of time so soaking large amounts of cloths together can result in bacteria contaminating more cloths and creating more potential problems.

"All of the premises in our study were given advice on how to practice better hygiene and they will be revisited to make sure that procedures have improved."

Words: Maria Bracken

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