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- Data on European kitchen layouts belonging to vulnerable consumers (elderly people and young families with children or pregnant women) and risk-takers (young single men)Publication . Mihalache, Octavian Augustin; Møretrø, Trond; Borda, Daniela; Dumitraşcu, Loredana; Neagu, Corina; Nguyen-The, Christophe; Maître, Isabelle; Didier, Pierrine; Teixeira, Paula; Junqueira, Luis Orlando Lopes; Truninger, Monica; Izsó, Tekla; Kasza, Gyula; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Langsrud, Solveig; Nicolau, Anca IoanaThe data presented here capture the structure of kitchen layouts belonging to consumers vulnerable to foodborne diseases and food risk-takers. Data were collected in the frame of the SafeConsume project by multidisciplinary research teams that visited consumers during preparing a meal and had the possibility to examine their cooking routines. Distances between sink and stove, sink and refrigerator, stove and refrigerator, sink and working place (countertop or table), stove and working place were analyzed to correlate food safety practices applied during cooking with kitchen arrangements. The results arising from analyzing the ergonomics of kitchens versus potential cross-contamination events are presented in Mihalache et al., [1]. These data contribute to a better understanding of real kitchen layouts and can be used as a starting point for future research regarding food safety-oriented arrangements instead of ergonomics-focused designs, for food safety risk assessments, as study cases for explaining specific measures that can be established to improve food handling and hygiene practices in homes and for sociological research pointing consumers’ behavior during cooking.
- Efficacy of removing bacteria and organic dirt from hands: a study based on bioluminescence measurements for evaluation of hand hygiene when cookingPublication . Mihalache, Octavian Augustin; Borda, Daniela; Neagu, Corina; Teixeira, Paula; Langsrud, Solveig; Nicolau, Anca IoanaThe objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of dirt removal (bacteria and organic matter) of several hand-cleaning procedures. The results from the hand hygiene experiment indicated that washing hands with warm water and soap for 20 s is the most effective method investigated when hands are either dirty or greasy. Even if not proper washing, rinsing under running water for 5 s is a cleaning procedure that may significantly reduce the probability of cross-contamination, as it removes 90% of the hands' dirt. Although less effective than water and soap, the usage of antibacterial wipes was significantly more effective than wet wipes, indicating that they are a better choice when water and soap are not available. The results of this study enable us to inform consumers about the effectiveness of hand-cleaning procedures applied in their homes when cooking. Moreover, it can make consumers understand why, during the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities recommended washing hands as a preventive measure of infection and using an anti-bacterial hand gel or wiping hands with an antimicrobial wipe if water and soap are not available.
- Using tactile cold perceptions as an indicator of food safety-a hazardous choicePublication . Borda, Daniela; Mihalache, Octavian Augustin; Nicolau, Anca Ioana; Teixeira, Paula; Langsrud, Solveig; Dumitrascu, LoredanaThe safety of many foods is dependent on ensuring the cold chain until the time of consumption. A weak link is the consumer part of the chain as the temperatures of domestic refrigerators are often too high and the users have limited possibilities to monitor and adjust the temperatures. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether common consumer practices for monitoring that food is kept cold are valid. Consumers demonstrated limited ability to assess food and surface temperature by tactile sense with lower precision at 8 °C compared to 4 °C. Almost 20% of the consumers were able to detect the exact food and surface temperature kept at 4 °C, while at 8 °C only 13% detected the exact temperature. A web-based survey mapping consumer practices showed that more than 40% of consumers never checked the temperature in their refrigerators, 38% rely on food coldness to evaluate if the refrigerator is running at adequate temperature and 65% lack knowledge on how to correctly asses temperature in the fridge. Most of the comments emphasized the situations where consumers could be at risk due to misevaluation of refrigerated food and surfaces real temperature indicating the necessity for better monitorization of cold food chain at domestic level.
- Cross-contamination of lettuce with Campylobacter spp. via cooking salt during handling raw poultryPublication . Santos-Ferreira, Nânci; Alves, Ângela; Cardoso, Maria João; Langsrud, Solveig; Malheiro, Ana Rita; Fernandes, Rui; Maia, Rui; Truninger, Mónica; Junqueira, Luís; Nicolau, Anca Ioana; Dumitrascu, Loredana; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Kasza, Gyula; Izso, Tekla; Ferreira, Vânia; Teixeira, PaulaCampylobacter spp. are the most common bacterial pathogens associated with human gastroenteritis in industrialized countries. Contaminated chicken is the food vehicle associated with the majority of reported cases of campylobacteriosis, either by the consumption of undercooked meat or via cross- contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods during the handling of contaminated raw chicken parts and carcasses. Our results indicate that cooking salt (used for seasoning) is a potential vehicle for Campylobacter spp. cross-contamination from raw chicken to lettuce, through unwashed hands after handling contaminated chicken. Cross-contamination events were observed even when the chicken skin was contaminated with low levels of Campylobacter spp. (ca. 1.48 Log CFU/g). The pathogen was recovered from seasoned lettuce samples when raw chicken was contaminated with levels ≥ 2.34 Log CFU/g. We also demonstrated that, once introduced into cooking salt, Campylobacter spp. are able to survive in a culturable state up to 4 hours. After six hours, although not detected following an enrichment period in culture medium, intact cells were observed by transmission electron microscopy. These findings reveal a "novel"indirect cross-contamination route of Campylobacter in domestic settings, and a putative contamination source to RTE foods that are seasoned with salt, that might occur if basic food hygiene practices are not adopted by consumers when preparing and cooking poultry dishes.
- Time-temperature profiles and Listeria monocytogenes presence in refrigerators from households with vulnerable consumersPublication . Dumitrașcu, Loredana; Nicolau, Anca Ioana; Neagu, Corina; Didier, Pierrine; Maître, Isabelle; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Moretro, Trond; Langsrud, Solveig; Truninger, Monica; Teixeira, Paula; Ferreira, Vânia; Martens, Lydia; Borda, DanielaA transdisciplinary observational study, coupled with a web-based survey, was conducted to investigate refrigerated storage of food, in five European countries. The investigated consumer groups in this study were: young families with small children and/or pregnant women, elderly people, persons with an immunodeficient system, and young single men. The refrigerator temperature was monitored for approximately two weeks using a temperature data logger. Variables such as country, income, age of refrigerators, education, living area, refrigerator loading practices had no significant effect (p > 0.05) on the overall average fridge temperature, whereas consumers' practices showed a significant influence (p < 0.05) on registered temperature values. Compared to temperatures inside the fridges belonging to young families and young single men group, the temperatures inside refrigerators belonging to elderly was in the temperature danger zone (5–63 °C). The lowest temperatures were recorded in UK consumers’ refrigerators, whereas the highest were in French households. Presence of Listeria monocytogenes was confirmed in three refrigerators out of 53 sampled (two in Romania and one in Portugal). The most vulnerable category to food safety risks is represented by elderly persons with low education, unaware of safe refrigeration practices and the actual temperature their fridges are running.
- Kitchen layouts and consumers’ food hygiene practices: ergonomics versus safetyPublication . Mihalache, Octavian Augustin; Møretrø, Trond; Borda, Daniela; Dumitraşcu, Loredana; Neagu, Corina; Nguyen-The, Christophe; Maître, Isabelle; Didier, Pierrine; Teixeira, Paula; Junqueira, Luis Orlando Lopes; Truninger, Monica; Izsó, Tekla; Kasza, Gyula; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Langsrud, Solveig; Nicolau, Anca IoanaOur paper emphasizes the importance of the kitchen layout in facilitating consumers' food hygiene practices. A significant correlation was found between the sink placement (inside or outside the kitchen) and hygienic practices during food handling based on a survey performed on consumers from ten European countries, indicating that those who had the sink in the kitchen were more likely to perform proper hygiene practices than those who have not. The self-reported practices were supported by observed practices in 64 households from five European countries. The observational study combined with the examination of kitchen layouts revealed that the kitchen work triangle with its apexes represented by the kitchen sink, cooking stove and refrigerator, which is recommended for ergonomic reasons by architects and designers, did not necessarily support food hygiene practices in kitchens. Cross-contamination events were associated with the sink – countertop distances longer than 1 m. Based on this, a new kitchen triangle with its apexes represented by the kitchen sink, working place (usually countertop) and cooking stove, with the distance between the sink and the working place less than 1 m is proposed to be used as norm in kitchen designs for combining ergonomics with safety. This triangle is proposedly named the food safety triangle and is aimed to mitigate the risks of foodborne illnesses by creating an arrangement that facilitates hygiene practices. This study is the first to highlight the importance of implementing the concept of food safety in the kitchen design based on significant correlations between kitchen equipment placement and consumers’ food safety practices.