A Study of Bacterial Contamination of Kitchen Dishwashing Sponges in Mosul City

Kitchen sponges have a significant role in maintenance and spread of pathogenic strains that cause food-borne illnesses as well as rotting bacteria. Aim of this study was to identify kinds of bacteria that grow on common kitchen sponges. Results revealed that highest contamination rate, 65 (86.6%) of samples had Bacillus bacteria in them. While the lowest contamination rate was Klebsiella spp., which was isolated at a rate of (4%) from three sponge samples. It was discovered that Bacillus outnumbered other species. We also investigated effects of various sponge cleaning techniques. Results of current study also revealed variations in proportion of contaminated sponges based on techniques employed to handle sponges after dishwashing. The study discovered that leaving sponge in a container with tap water after usage resulted in highest proportion contamination proportion of (45.3), when sponge was pressed and stored in a dry container after usage, amount of bacterial contamination was at its lowest (5.3%). Additionally, our present investigation discovered a strong correlation between sponge's usage time and amount of bacterial infection. Percentage of contamination increases with length of use time. A sponge used for 14 days had the highest proportion of bacterial contamination (37.3%), whereas sponge used for 3 days had lowest percentage of contamination (12%). We use sponges every day to clean our dishes and surfaces, but in reality, we are spreading bacteria.