The international 'Hygiene in the Home Study 2009' has revealed that kitchens are dirtier than bathrooms when it comes to bacterial contamination.

Carried out by the Hygiene Council in eight countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, India, Malaysia, South Africa, UK and USA, the study exposes the kitchen cleaning cloth to be the dirtiest item in the home, with 86 per cent having unsatisfactory or worse levels of bacteria. Not surprisingly, few householders (25 per cent) knew that the kitchen cloth would harbour the most bacteria.

The kitchen tap is the second dirtiest item of those tested, with more than half (52 per cent) unsatisfactory or worse.  Only 8 per cent of householders thought this item would be the dirtiest.

When questioned, the majority of people (52 per cent) thought the most contaminated item in the home would be the toilet flush handle, however only 15 per cent failed the hygiene test. In fact, kitchen taps are twice (13 per cent) more likely to be the home of E. coli than toilet flushes (6 per cent).

The study findings also provide an insight into cleaning behaviours globally. The majority of the study participants often overlook the kitchen cloth when it comes to cleaning, with most just rinsing it in washing up liquid rather than disinfecting it.

The toilet flush is considered an important area to clean, which may explain why this site appears to be relatively clean. People are willing to change though, with a significant 89 per cent stating they would alter their cleaning habits for the better, based on the results of this study.

“Our study highlights significant gaps in the public’s hygiene knowledge and these really need to be addressed. The importance of cleaning key hygiene hotspots in the home is paramount, particularly at a time when we’re all concerned about the spread of infectious diseases such as swine flu.  Practicing good hygiene is something we can all do to break the chain of infection and protect ourselves and our families,” stated John Oxford, chairman of the Hygiene Council and Professor of Virology at Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry.

Appearances can be deceiving

Bacteria and viruses cannot be seen by the naked eye so just because something looks clean does not mean it is hygienically clean.  Appearances can be deceiving and this was borne out by the study with 33 per cent of visibly clean kitchen cloths found to be dirty in microbiological terms. A further 5 per cent of cloths actually appeared to be relatively new yet failed the tests. 21 per cent of kitchen taps also appeared clean, yet failed the tests.

The Hygiene Hypothesis: A worrying trend

The motivation for people to clean their home is sometimes challenged by the view that too much cleaning is bad for your immune system and contributes to an increase in allergic diseases. The Hygiene Council concludes that there is no scientific data to support this theory, commonly known as the hygiene hypothesis. While the Council recognises that some exposure to microbes is an important step in the process of ‘natural immunisation’, exposure to harmful pathogens that can cause disease is unnecessary and preventable.

An International consumer survey conducted by the Hygiene Council reveals that removal of germs from the home is often not the primary reason for cleaning with over a quarter of people (27 per cent) only doing so to make their home ‘look’ clean and ‘smell’ nice.

Participants in the Hygiene in the Home Study were also asked about the hygiene hypothesis. While  support for the theory appears to vary significantly from country to country, overall a reassuring  43 per cent do not believe in the notion at all, 24 per cent thought there might be some truth in it, with 8 per cent not sure. Only quarter (25 per cent) firmly believe in it.

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