A video study of Australian domestic food-handling practices.

This study gathered visual information on food-handling practices in 40 domestic kitchens. The difference between claimed and actual hygiene practices of participants was also studied. The most common unhygienic practices included infrequent washing of hands, improper hand washing techniques, inadequate cleaning of kitchen surfaces and pet handling during food preparation. Notably, 47% of participants did not wash their hands after handling raw meat, or when they did wash, they washed without soap (44%). Almost half of the households did not use a detergent or cleaner for cleaning kitchen surfaces at any time during the monitoring period. Cross-contamination events were identified as a significant proportion of all unhygienic practices observed. Journal of Food Protection 1999;62:1285-1296.