Joyce Slaton of Chow tracked me down the other day and we had a lovely chat about yucky things after I had taken my daughter to school and before she had to pick up her daughter. Time zones.

Slaton writes that research conducted in the summer of 2011 by Harris Interactive found a solid 79 percent of respondents saying they'd avoid a restaurant after encountering a nasty bathroom. But does the link between a filthy toilet and a dirty prep table even make sense? Hard data is rare. Though health and restaurant inspectors do check for the general appearance of cleanliness in restrooms and dining areas, they save their swabs and scientific gauges for the food-prep areas.

But as Douglas Powell, professor of food safety at Kansas State University, publisher of food safety-focused barfblog.com, and a passionate proponent of proper handwashing (we'll get to that in a moment), says, "There's a yuck factor when you go in and say, 'Eww, this is dirty, what else is?' But there's no proven correlation between having a dirty bathroom and unsafe food. The employees have different sinks to wash their hands in. You don't see those—they're at the back."

Chowhound poster soupkitten makes a good point in a thread titled Freezing Bathrooms=Omen: "Folks who want to point to a smudge on the front window of a restaurant or a smudge on the floor of the men's room as evidence that the kitchen of a restaurant or any other business is unsanitary seriously need to realize that most establishments have divisions of labor and that the brunch crew comes in at 6 a.m. to crack eggs, not wash windows and wipe down toilet seats!"

Meanwhile, Powell (politely) pshaw-ed my notion that a dirty bathroom meant that diners should order differently or avoid a restaurant.

"But," he warns, "if you see a cook or a waiter come in and use the bathroom and start to leave without washing up, say something [like], 'Dude, wash your hands!'" Powell also hopes patrons will speak up when bathrooms don't have the tools for proper handwashing. Which are?

• Vigorously flowing water: "Temperature doesn't matter," says Powell, despite the fact that we've all been told that warm water works better. Microbiologically, it doesn't matter.

• Soap: Lather energetically for 10 seconds, not 20 as you may have heard. It's OK with Powell if you want to sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself while you do it, but he'd rather you count than sing kiddie songs.

• Paper towels: The blow-dryers disperse microorganisms into the air and they don't get your hands dry, says Dr. Powell. Paper towels are better. But don't bother using one to hold the bathroom door handle as you go out: The door handle surface isn't a particularly great place for bacteria to grow.

A study by Kansas State University shows posters can make a difference when it comes to hand hygiene in a health care setting.

The research, based on observations of more than 5,000 patrons at a hospital-based cafeteria, shows that an evidence-based informational poster can increase attempts at hand hygiene. The study appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, and was funded by One Health Kansas, a project supported by the Kansas Health Foundation.

The research team included K-State's Katie Filion, a December 2010 master's graduate in biomedical science; Kate KuKanich, assistant professor of clinical sciences; Megan Hardigree, a 2008 master's graduate in kinesiology; and Doug Powell, professor of food safety. Also on the team was Ben Chapman, assistant professor in the department of 4-H youth development and family and consumer sciences at North Carolina State University.

Hand hygiene is important before meals, especially in a hospital cafeteria where patrons may have had recent contact with infectious agents, KuKanich said.

"Few interventions to improve hand hygiene have had measurable success. This study was designed to use a poster intervention to encourage hand hygiene among health care workers and hospital visitors upon entry to a hospital cafeteria," she said.

Over a five-week period, a poster intervention with an accessible hand-sanitizer unit was deployed to improve hand hygiene at the entrance to a hospital cafeteria. An anonymous researcher was able to observe hand hygiene attempts from the adjacent dining area. The study included baseline, intervention and follow-up phases, with each consisting of three randomized days of observation for three hours at lunchtime.

Gains were modest, Powell said. During the 27 hours of observation, 5,551 participants were observed, with hand hygiene attempts increasing from 3.16 per cent to 6.17 per cent.

Hand washing compliance efforts have focused on increasing availability of proper tools for hand hygiene, education and training, and use of prompts such as visual reminders or peer pressure and the presence of others, according to Powell and KuKanich.

"Hand hygiene is still the best way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, many of us don't wash our hands as often as we should," KuKanich said.

"Those 'Employees Must Wash Hands' signs in bathrooms may not be the most effective reminder," Powell said. "While improvements in this study were modest, we have set an evaluation framework to work with informational posters that use more graphical messages and reminders that use a shock-and-shame approach."

An abstract of "Observation-based evaluation of hand hygiene practices and the effects of an intervention at a public hospital cafeteria" is available at http://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553%2810%2900986-7/abstract
 

Sorenne’s day care had its own petting zoo on Thursday with sheep, ducks, and others. I’d been in Brisbane less than 24 hours and had to finish marking papers so didn’t stick around to observe the interactions, but I attempted to ensure the kids were going to be washing with soap and water, not just sanitizer, and that staff would be watching to minimize the hand-on-ruminant-and-into-mouth move favored by 2-year-olds.

A petting zoo in southern Sweden closed its doors after it was confirmed that at least one foal was infected with salmonella.

Although one park visitor was first suspected of contracting salmonella after petting the zoo's salmonella-infected pony, authorities are now saying there is no information about humans having been infected.

In the U.K., a popular visitor attraction Cruckley Animal Farm has been permanently closed after an outbreak of E. coli.

The family-run farm, at Foston-on-the-Wolds, had been a firm favorite with school children and families for almost quarter of a century.

But now owners John and Sue Johnston have taken the decision to close the 60-acre site permanently after several visitors to the farm fell ill and a Health Protection Agency investigation launched.

It is believed that six cases of E. coli O157 have been linked to the farm and Mr Johnston said they are working closely with the HPA to help them with their enquiries.
 

The Brits are hammering home the message: sanitizers and wipes are not enough at petting zoos; people must wash hands with soap and water.

Antibacterial gels and wipes are not a substitute for washing hands with soap and water. These gels or wipes may be unable to remove contamination in the way that running water can. However, using such gels after hand washing with soap and water may further reduce the risk of picking up these infections.

Dr John Clarke, a consultant microbiologist at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, said, “Touching animals, fences and other surfaces can lead to infection, as you may pick up these bacteria and accidentally pass them to your mouth. It only takes a small number of the bacteria to cause infection.”

Proper handwashing requires access to proper facilities; the Riley County Fair starts later this week (that’s in Manhattan, Kansas) and I doubt they gotten the message.