A total of 44 food handlers who work in elementary schools from Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil, were subjected to the examination of the nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus and of hand carriers of Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A simple method using the eosine-methilene-blue media to isolate enterobacteria from the hands was performed. Among the total number of food handlers, 29.5% were S. aureus nasal carriers. The following percentages were obtained for enterobacteria isolation from the hand carriers: Enterobacter spp. (54.5%), Serratia spp. (9.0%), Shigella spp. (9.0%), E. coli (6.8%), Salmonella spp. (2.3%) and Yersinia spp. (2.3%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from the hands of 2.3% food handlers. Our results demonstrated the necessity of performing evaluation of S. aureus and Enterobacteriaceae in food handlers from elementary schools and also indicated that the method is useful to identify sources of food poisoning in epidemiological studies and in investigations of food contamination sources. Our data also showed that authorities may allot more attention to alerting the community about food problems.3 Corresponding
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