Disinfection Methods Used in Decontamination of Bottles Used for Feeding Powdered Infant Formula.

Bottles (n = 6) of reconstituted formula were spiked with 10(5) cfu/ml representative mixed culture. For subsequent experiments, reconstituted formula was spiked with either 10(2) and 10(4) cfu/ml of Enterobacter sakazakii (Cronobacter), B. cereus and Staph. aureus. Before disinfection, bottles were cleaned according to recommended guidelines. Disinfection procedures tested included a hypochlorite-based chemical solution and three heat-based methods. Bottles were sampled in four sites. Before cleaning and disinfection, the inner screw cap and inner-teat were the most heavily contaminated sites with 1.6-7.4 x 10(3) cfu/per-area-sampled; the bottle interior was more contaminated overall with 1.2 x 10(4) cfu/per-area-sampled. After disinfection, adherence to recommended procedures (combined with good hygiene) enabled effective decontamination to be achieved using all methods. The study highlights the importance of effective consumer education by healthcare professionals. J Fam Health Care. 2009;19(1):26-31.