The international Hygiene in the Home Study 2009 revealed that kitchens are dirtier than bathrooms when it comes to bacterial contamination. Carried out by the Hygiene Council in eight countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, India, Malaysia, South Africa, UK and USA, the study exposed the kitchen cleaning cloth to be the dirtiest item in the home, with 86 percent having unsatisfactory or worse levels of bacteria. Not surprisingly, few householders (25 percent) knew that the kitchen cloth would harbor the most bacteria. The results of the study were released recently during the Hygiene Council meeting held at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza in Cairo. The kitchen tap is the second dirtiest item of those tested, with more than half (52 percent) unsatisfactory or worse. Only 8 percent of householders thought this item would be the dirtiest. When questioned, the majority of people (52 percent) thought the most contaminated item in the home would be the toilet flush handle, however only 15 percent failed the hygiene test. In fact, kitchen taps are twice (13 percent) more likely to be the home of E. coli than toilet flushes (6 percent). The study findings also provided an insight into cleaning behaviors globally. The majority of the study participants often overlook the kitchen cloth when it comes to cleaning, with most just rinsing it in washing up liquid rather than disinfecting it. The toilet flush is considered an important area to clean, which may explain why this site appears to be relatively clean. People are willing to change though, with a significant 89 percent stating they would alter their cleaning habits for the better based on the results of this study. John Oxford, chairman of the Hygiene Council and Professor of Virology at Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, London, said: “Our study highlights significant gaps in the public's hygiene knowledge and these really need to be addressed. The importance of cleaning key hygiene hotspots in the home is paramount, particularly at a time when we're all concerned about the spread of infectious diseases such as swine flu. Practicing good hygiene is something we can all do to break the chain of infection and protect ourselves and our families.” Bacteria and viruses cannot be seen by the naked eye so just because something looks clean does not mean it is hygienically clean. Appearances can be deceiving and this was borne out by the study with 33 percent of visibly clean kitchen cloths found to be dirty in microbiological terms. A further 5 percent of cloths actually appeared to be relatively new yet failed the tests. 21 percent of kitchen taps also appeared clean, yet failed the tests. The motivation for people to clean their home is sometimes challenged by the view that too much cleaning is bad for your immune system and contributes to an increase in allergic diseases.
