Assessment of the personal hygiene and the bacteriological quality of butchersʹ hands in some abattoirs in Alexandria, Egypt

Poor personal hygiene of food handlers has been associated with food borne-disease outbreaks. Unsatisfactory personal hygiene may cross-contaminate foodstuffs with pathogenic organisms contributing to the spread of disease. We aimed to evaluate the butchers regarding their bacterial hand contamination and hygienic practices from some abattoirs in Alexandria. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 butchers randomly selected from the abattoirs of 10 districts in Alexandria, Egypt, to assess their hygienic practices using a predesigned questionnaire sheet. Bacterial contamination of butchersʹ hands was evaluated by direct finger-print and modified glove juice methods. Out of 50 butchers, 23 (46%) had health certificates, 9 (39.13%) of which were valid. Protective clothes were used by 15 (30%) butchers and daily hand wash at the beginning of the day was performed by 40 (80%). Paper towels were used by 16 (40.0%) butchers for hand drying. The butchersʹ hands showed colony count ranged between ≥107(12.0%) and ≥1012(12.0%) CFU/hand. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and non typhoidal Salmonella were isolated from 15.32%, 14.52% and 1.61% of butchersʹ hands, respectively. In conclusion, there is an immediate need for health education of butchers about the proper hygienic practices they should follow.