Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria on the Hands of Workers at a Fish Processing Plant

Annually the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports about two million fatal cases of diarrheal bacterial infections attributed to poor handling of food and general poor hygiene.The faecal-oral transmission is a major cause of enteric infections if good personal hygiene is not practiced, and is often associated with food handlers in big food processing companies.This study aimed to evaluate detect pathogenic bacteria in a fish factory.Further the study assessed the effectiveness of alcohol-based hand washing against enteric bacteria on the hands of food processors.This study showed that there exists a high carriage of pathogenic bacteria by food workers and emphasises that hygienic practices especially hand washing is essential in reducing bacterial contamination and ultimately reduce infections.