Short communicationAssessment of the personal hygiene and the bacteriological quality of butchers' 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 butchers' 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 butchers' 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 butchers' hands, respectively. In conclusion, there is an immediate need for health education of butchers about the proper hygienic practices they should follow.