Survival of <i>Salmonella</i> spp. on Cutting Boards and Cross‐Contamination to Food

ABSTRACT Consuming food contaminated with harmful microorganisms poses a significant public health risk, often occurring on indoor food contact surfaces like cutting boards in home kitchens. The study aimed to experimentally determine the survival of Salmonella on commonly used cutting board surfaces (glass, wood, polyethylene) and its potential to cause cross‐contamination of food samples (salami) over varying intervals and contact times. Salmonella bacteria persisted on polyethylene and glass cutting boards for up to 4 h, whereas on wooden surfaces, they were detected only up to 2 h. The transfer rates of bacteria to salami were found to vary depending on the type of board material and bacterial strain, with wooden boards demonstrating the lowest transfer rates. Additionally, the transfer rate increased proportionally with longer contact times. The study highlights that all types of cutting boards have the potential to transfer bacteria to food, although wooden boards showed lower transfer rates compared to polyethylene and glass surfaces.