Comparison of Sanitizing Methods for Reduction of Attached Microorganisms on Various Kitchen Cutting Boards

Abstract: Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection has been implicated in a number of outbreaks of illness linked to the consumption of foods. Handling raw meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 in the kitchen could easily contaminate the surface of cutting boards. Thus, levels of cross-contamination of E. coli O157:H7 from ground beef to cutting boards made of different materials and effects of cleaning methods on reducing E. coli O157:H7 were evaluated. Four types of cutting boards (wood, polyethylene, polypropylene, and acrylic) were selected and contaminated with ground beef inoculated with E. coli O157:H7. Levels of cross-contaminated E. coli O157:H7 on boards were then evaluated. For evaluation of cleaning methods, wiping with dry paper towel, wet paper towel, alcohol paper towel, chlorine paper towel were used to clean the contaminated cutting boards. Initial population of pathogens was 6.09 log CFU/g in ground beef. After 1 h contamination of the inoculated ground beef on the cutting boards, no significant difference were observed in levels of cross-contaminated E. coli O157:H7 depending on the cleaning materials except for the normal polyethylene surface. Order of efficacy in removing E. coli O157: H7 was as follows: alcohol > chlorine > wet > dry paper towel. Cleaning with alcohol sanitizer appeared as the most effective cleaning method for reducing E. coli O157: H7 population on kitchen cutting boards. These results could be used to develop kitchen safety guidelines for preventing foodborne outbreaks.