Foodborne Pathogens in the Domestic Environment and Hygienic Status of Food Cleaning Utensils: A Comprehensive Review.

This review covers data on prevalence of major foodborne pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli pathotypes, Campylobacter) from household kitchen equipment, with emphasis on hygienic status of food cleaning utensils used in home kitchens, such as sponges, brushes, kitchen dishcloths and hand towels.

The pathogen most commonly found is S. aureus, which can be transmitted through hand-to-mouth route via direct contact with the contaminated kitchen surface and/or cleaning utensils or indirectly through the consumption of contaminated food due to cross-contamination incidences during preparation of food (e.g., portioning of ready-to-eat meat in the same cutting board surface and with same knife used previously for cutting fresh leafy salad vegetables).

Data on food cleaning utensils clearly demonstrate that (i) sponges present the highest microbial load compared to all other cleaning utensils, (ii) kitchen dishcloths and hand towels are frequently used multiple times for more than one uses (e.g., hand drying and cleaning/removing excess humidity from the dishes at the same time), contributing in that way to cross-contamination, (ii) brushes are more hygienic than sponges and safer for cleaning kitchen cutlery and utensils.

Mataragka A, Anthi R, Christodouli ZE, Malisova O, Andritsos ND. Presence of Major Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens in the Domestic Environment and Hygienic Status of Food Cleaning Utensils: A Comprehensive Review.https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202509.0117/v1