Microbial Contamination in Kitchens and Refrigerators of Korea Households

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the microbial contamination level of domestic kitchen environments and to provide information to improve food safety in 50 domestic house kitchens located in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. Dishcloth, chopping board, and refrigerator swabs were examined for the presence of coliforms, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni/coli, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. The means and standard deviations of coliform counts for dishcloths was 4.8 ± 1.84 log CFU/100 g, chopping boards, and refrigerator drawers were 4.04 ± 1.53, 4.11 ± 1.65 log CFU/100 cm 2 , respectively. Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter jejuni/coli were not detected in all samples. E. coli were detected in 3 on the dishcloths and 1 of 50 samples in the refrigerator drawer. Listeria monocytogenes was detected in the drawer of the refrigerator in 2 of 50 samples. In the case of Staphylococcus aureus, the detection on dishcloths, chopping boards, and drawers in refrigerators was 21, 12, and 14 of 50 samples, respectively. The results of microbiological tests of domestic kitchen utensils can be used to emphasize the importance of the sanitary conditions in domestic kitchen environments.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Campylobacter Species Contamination in Poultry, Meat, and Processing Environments in South Korea

“…Meat products such as beef and pork are potential sources of Campylobacter contamination [63]. Taremi et al (2006) found the highest prevalence of Campylobacter in [32,33,36,37,40,41,45,51,58].…”

“…Figure 4. Forest plot of prevalence of Campylobacter considering environmental factors and processing environments in South Korea: (A) feces, (B) equipment, (C) wash water[32,33,36,37,40,41,45,51,58].…”