Effects of various hand hygiene regimes on removal and/or destruction ofEscherichia colion hands

Various hand hygiene techniques have been recommended by sanitarians. In the USA, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) ServSafe®program guidelines include a recommended hand washing regime. The ServSafe regime was compared to rinsing with warm and cool water and no washing/rinsing for bare hands and gloves after exposure to ground beef (approximately 106 cells/g) or liquid solution (approximately 106 cells/mL) contaminated with an ampicillin‐resistantEscherichia coliJM 109 strain.The efficacy of alcohol‐based hand sanitizers to replace hand washing was also evaluated. ServSafe, warm water rinse and cool water rinse reducedE. colicells on hands by 98.0, 64.4 and 42.8% log10 cfu/mL, resulting in <1, 1.4, and 2,1 log10 cfu/mLE. colion hands, respectively, from 3.6 log10 cfu/mL on unwashed hands. When vinyl food service gloves were worn during the hand washing treatments, gloves retained more bacteria than when only hands were rinsed or washed. From 2.9 to 3.4 log10 cfu/mL remained on hands when ethanol‐based sanitizers were used instead of hand washing. Of all hand washing treatments tested in these experiments, the US NRA recommended method was most effective (P < 0.05) in removingE. colifrom hands and the levels remaining after this method were below the threshold of detection (<10 cfu/hand).