Tag Archives: Paper Towel

Handwashing for nerds: Are those Dysan jet dryers better than paper towel?

Posted on by
1

Amy, Sorenne and I spent a long last weekend in San Francisco, where Amy conferenced, I had some meetings, but mainly just hung out with the kid (three pirates and a little girl, right).

The washrooms at the San Francisco airport featured the Dysan airblade, billed as the “fastest, most hygienic hand dryer.” Says so right on the machine. And it’s certified by NSF as “tested, certified, hygienic.” Says so right on the machine.

My bowels are in a state of flux when traveling so I had several opportunities to try out the newfangled machinery, that sounds like an airplane is taking off below your fingertips.

We have maintained, based on our reading of the available literature, that proper handwashing, entails:

• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.

Water temperature is not a critical factor — water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands — so use whatever is comfortable.

The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.

I did a cursory search to find some data on the Dysan thingy, and found a study comparing paper towel, regular blow dryers, and a Dysan-type jet dryer that was published in 2008.

Those authors state:

“The jet air dryer showed that there were significant differences (although not as great as for the fingerpads) between the towels and both types of dryer. Again, the superior performance of the towels in reducing bacterial numbers was confirmed. As for the fingerpads, the jet air dryer performed better than the warm air dryer in not increasing mean bacterial count on the palms as much but this difference was not significant.

“Therefore, the manufacturer’s claim that the tested JAD is the “most hygienic hand dryer” is confirmed, especially for fingerpads and assuming that the term “hand dryer” refers to electric devices only because its performance in terms of the numbers of all types of bacteria remaining on the hands of users compared to paper towels was significantly worse. …

“It is well known to microbiologists that air movements encourage the dispersal and transmission of microorganisms and increase the chances of the contamination of materials or persons in any situation. This makes paper towels, where little air movement is generated, the most hygienic option tested in this respect followed by the warm air dryer and, lastly, the jet air dryer.”

The friction from rubbing with paper towel is particularly effective at reducing microbial populations; yet many of these public bathrooms have signs proclaiming that electric dryers of whatever kind are better, and save the trees. Oh, and I should hear from someone at Dysan or NSF – public claims need to be backed with public data.

Maybe I’ll just stay at home.
 

Dry hands are 1,000 times safer than damp hands; or so say PR types

Posted on by
1

What Would Don Draper Do? He’d reject the crappy ad copy, leave it to his underlings if necessary, and walk away. After a large glass of whiskey.

Mike Kapalko, SCA Tissue`s Environmental & Tork Services Manager says,

"Our hands touch 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes. And, according to the CDC, up to 40 percent of Americans could contract the H1N1 virus through 2010.
So properly washing and, equally important, effectively drying your hands is a simple way of dramatically decreasing your risk of being infected. As a leader in
hygienic solutions, Tork provides businesses and consumers with handwashing resources such as posters and educational videos through our website."

The press release says damp hands spread 1,000 times more germs than dry hands2.

This is the reference:

2Patrick, D.R., Findon, G., Miller, T.E., Epidemiology and Infection

That’s not a reference.

“It is therefore as important to dry your hands as it is to wash them carefully with soap and warm water.”

Nah, water temperature doesn’t matter much either.

How hard is it to get it right?

 

Dirty doggie dining in Manhattan, Kansas

Posted on by
1

When I first opened the Kansas State Collegian yesterday morning, the following headline popped out: “Green, pet-friendly bar opens in Aggieville.” The story started:

“Tail wagging, mouth drooling, riled up with excitement stands Tank the dog, welcoming bar patrons this Saturday to the newly renovated the Loft Bar and Grill.”

 

The owner added,

 

“We will be having many different types of animals outside the Loft — dogs, goats and even miniature Clydesdales.” Jacobson said. “Our bar is very pet-friendly.”

 

Actually, the Kansas Food Code prohibits animals on food establishments, unless they are assistance animals, according to code reference 6-501.115 found here.

 

Did Jackson read over the Food Code before opening his restaurant? Maybe he’s a rebel, or is he just playing it dumb?

 

The local health department inspectors would consider bringing pets to a restaurant a critical violation. Last year, Tanks Tavern, also in Aggieville, was cited two critical violations including: “live dog in bar and dog food stored under sink.”

 

As Amy and Doug wrote, “tripping, biting, dog fights, barking, allergies, and the transfer of dangerous microorganisms such as E. coli, salmonella and cryptosporidium” are some of the risks that come along with doggie dining.

 

Restaurants in Florida can apply for permits to allow dogs on their patio, if they meet certain conditions. Employees must not touch pets while handling food, and if they do, they must wash their hands. Customers should also wash their hands before eating and keep their pets off tables, chairs, and tables.

 

As far as I know, we are still in Kansas, where doggie dining is clearly prohibited.

 

These are my puppies:

Effective food safety messages for microbial food safety hazards

Posted on by
Reply

At some point while endlessly bitching at Chapman to finish his damn thesis and produce some papers, I realized, I wasn’t so good at closing the deal myself.

I could say I like blogging, being quoted in media, the immediacy of it all, but I also realized I needed the credibility of peer-reviewed publications.

So after grappling with divorce, the angst of children lost, the joy of remarriage and once again the commitment to an ideal, another kid, I decided that while I was bitching at Chapman, I better take care of my own shop.

So, with some pride, I announce the first of about a dozen peer-reviewed papers that are going to appear this year.

Designing effective messages for microbial food safety hazards, which will appear in an upcoming issue of Food Control, by Douglas Powell, Casey Jacob and Lisa Mathiasen, was started by Lisa back in 2003. I told her it was going to be published and she said, “about time.”

Casey did some excellent improvements, and the thing is coming out.

Here’s the abstract; I’ll post the full paper info when it’s published.

Despite numerous food safety information campaigns and educational efforts, microbial foodborne illness remains a significant source of human disease. New food safety messages transmitted using new media are required to enhance food safety from farm-to-fork. A review of the literature reveals that targeting a segment of the population and understanding knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of the individuals comprising that segment can lead to successful communication of food safety messages. Messages found to be effective are relevant to the target audience, contain reliable information, are rapidly distributed at appropriate times, and are repeated. Those containing information that is easily received and understood have also been found effective. The use of media commonly accessed by today’s consumers is also valuable. Evaluation of the effect of all aspects of food safety messages and media, as measured through observation of recipients’ actions, is required to validate the effectiveness of food safety communications.

And I’m in love with my partner, cause she’s the meanest editor I’ve ever had.

And vice-versa.

Water, soap and paper towel: Aggieville bars have the handwashing tools

Posted on by
Reply

As part of the first Global Handwashing Day, students Mayra Rivarola and Skyler Wilkinson visited 11 restaurant bathrooms in Aggieville, Manhattan (Kansas) to ensure patrons were at least provided the tools to properly wash their hands.

All of the bathrooms rated highly. Only 1-of-the-11 had a failure, a lack of paper towel.

So, wash your damn hands. And don’t eat poop.
 

Burger King: Paper towels in the bathroom please

Posted on by
1

I have been working for Doug for almost 4 months now. I am happy to say that I have learned a lot.

One of these things is proper hand-washing. So every time I go to a public restroom I keep my eyes open and watch every detail.

I often notice when someone skips the hand-washing step or someone who doesn’t dry up afterwards.

Just the other day I went during my lunch break to Burger King to grab a double cheeseburger. I went to the restroom first, and when I was in one of the stalls, a woman came in with her kid, telling him to scrub his hands. I heard water running. Then they just left – but I didn’t hear any paper tearing.

Well, there wasn’t any. No, BK didn’t just run out of paper. They didn’t have a paper towel dispenser at all. Only a drier. And a very lousy one. The evidence:

BK employees should not only wash their hands, but dry them as well.

Frustrated I left, and hesitated: Can I still eat my burger, knowing that employees (or at least the women) don’t dry their hands properly in that establishment?

No more BK cheeseburgers for me. Doug wrote in a letter:

Blow dryers should not be used because they accumulate microorganisms from toilet aerosols, and can cause contamination of hands as they are dried by the drier (Knights, et al., 1993; Redway,et al., 1994).

Every bathroom should have running water, soap and paper towel.

Check out this other BK incidence: Restaurant sinks are not bathtubs

It’s summertime and dirty dog is on the menu in Seoul

Posted on by
Reply

The Seoul City Administration has announced that many of the dog meat restaurants in Seoul area were found to contain unhygenic kitchens filled with cockroaches.

From July 15 to 18, 2008 Seoul City has conducted a four-day intensive inspection on the restaurants selling dog meat.

The inspection by the city was done for the first time since 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics when most dog meat restaurants in the capital were forced to close or to move out of the city.

The spokesperson of the Seoul city, however, said that the control over the dog meat restaurant is far from approval of dog meat.

Koreans are known to enjoy dog meats particularly during the sweltering summer days. In Seoul area alone there are some 6,000 restaurants selling dog meat.

Annually 2 million dogs are butchered for the human consumption in South Korea.

Mimzy and me and Amy

Posted on by
2

Last year it was five weeks touring France; this year, Amy’s studying business French in Quebec and Ontario (Canada) and I’m tagging along.

We left Manhattan and our dogs on May 21, but picked up another for the 18 hour drive: a borzoi, or Russian wolf hound, named Mimzy who a friend in Guelph, Ontario, had purchased from its current owner in Manhattan (Kansas).

That’s Mimzy and me (right). She made the trip, uh, interesting (and should come standard-issue with a drool bucket).

After games of golf, hockey, a committee meeting with Chapman and meals with kids, friends and parents, it was off to Montreal. We’re staying in the Latin Quarter, and today wondered through the Notre-Dame Basilica.

This is the bathroom (right) in the Basilica, and like every other public washroom I’ve visited in Quebec, there was no paper towel. Proper handwashing requires the proper tools, and that includes paper towels.

And because this song was played during the beginning of tonight’s game 2 of the Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup finals, here is Stompin’ Tom Connors with, The Hockey Song.

Proper handwashing requires proper tools

Posted on by
Reply

The Manhattan — Kansas, that is — Mercury today looked into ongoing problems at local schools and the continuing spread of staph infections.

The Riley County Health Department found that a couple of schools, including MHS West, lacked soap and paper towels.

So I wrote this to the local paper:

Proper handwashing is the most effective way to control the spread of infectious diseases, including avian influenza, norovirus, and the staphylococcus apparently running through Manhattan High School’s west campus (Taking the temperature of problems in the West Campus building, Oct. 14/07

But proper handwashing requires access to the proper tools.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that up to 25 per cent of the 76 million annual cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. could be eliminated with proper handwashing.

Based on the available evidence, proper handwashing consists of:
• wet hands with water;
• use soap;
• lather all over hands by scrubbing vigorously, creating friction, reaching all areas of the hands, wrists and between fingers;
• rinse hands; and,
• dry hands, preferably with paper towel.

Studies have concluded that dangerous bacteria could survive handwashing with soap and water if hands were not dried thoroughly with paper towels. The friction created when drying hands with paper towel removes additional microorganisms.

Last month, the Western Mail in Wales stated that the conditions in some Welsh schools, outlined in the final report of an E. coli O157 outbreak in 2005 that left a five-year-old dead and over 100 sick, would shame the Third World, adding, "It’s time to ensure children are not placed in environments which are breeding grounds for disease … to tolerate a situation where schools do not have toilet rolls, soap or hot water is reprehensible."

Similarly, lack of soap and paper towels exacerbated the effects of a norovirus outbreak that sickened over 150 students at a university residence in Ontario in 2006.

Age and the demands of modern education are no excuse for providing the basic tools for sanitation.

Proper handwashing begins with access to proper tools. That is why soap and paper towels are a necessary requirement for any public bathroom.

Wash your hands and dry with paper towel…

Posted on by
Reply

Except when the paper towel dispenser has been lit on fire.

According to the Kansas State Collegian today
a fire was started in Aggieville at O’Malley’s Alley on Sunday around 8 p.m. when someone lit the paper towel dispenser in the restroom. If you really hate paper towel that much, it might be safer (although not more sanitary) to use an air dryer (see Doug’s letter to the editor of the Manhattan Mercury posted below). Visit donteatpoop.com for more handwashing information.

**photo is from the K-State Collegian, credited to Steven Doll**

***Letter to the editor***
29.dec.06
Manhattan Mercury
p. A6
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 25 per cent of the 76 million annual cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. could be eliminated with proper handwashing.
Based on the available evidence, proper handwashing consists of:
o wet hands with water;
o use soap;
o lather all over hands by scrubbing vigorously, creating friction, reaching all areas of the hands, wrists and between fingers, and counting to at least fifteen; o rinse hands; and, o dry hands, preferably with paper towel.
The all-in-one handwashing units at the Manhattan Town Center and K-State student union restrooms may be insufficient to control the spread of dangerous microorganisms  (Look, Ma, no handles, Manhattan Mercury, Dec. 28/06). The washing time before the hand dryer is activated appears inadequate, as does the drying procedure itself. Any remaining moisture can support bacterial growth, or can limit people from washing their hands in the first place (who wants damp hands?). Anecdotal reports from campus reveal that some find the units inconvenient and that soap sometimes misses hands when being dispensed.
One research study found that average bacterial counts were reduced when towels (either cloth or paper) were used to dry hands, the most significant decrease being with paper towels; hot air dryers produced a highly significant increase in all bacteria on hands.
Another study concluded that dangerous bacteria could survive handwashing with soap and water if hands were not dried thoroughly with paper towels. The friction created when drying hands with paper towel removes additional microorganisms.
Proper handwashing begins with access to proper tools. That is why paper towels are a necessary addition to any public bathroom.
Sincerely,
Doug Powell
Associate Professor
KSU Food Safety Network
1729 Pierre St
785-317-0560
dpowell@ksu.edu