Simulating cross-contamination of cooked pork with Salmonella enterica from raw pork through home kitchen preparation in Vietnam

Pork is the most commonly consumed meat in Vietnam, and; Salmonella enterica; is a common contaminant. This study aimed to assess potential; S. enterica; cross-contamination between raw and cooked pork in Vietnamese households. Different scenarios for cross-contamination were constructed based on a household survey of pork handling practices (416 households). Overall, 71% of people used the same knife and cutting board for both raw and cooked pork; however, all washed their hands and utensils between handling raw and cooked pork. The different scenarios were experimentally tested. First,; S. enterica; was inoculated on raw pork and surfaces (hands, knives and cutting boards); next, water used for washing and pork were sampled to identify the presence and concentration of; S. enterica; during different scenarios of food preparation. Bootstrapping techniques were applied to simulate transfer rates of; S. enterica; cross-contamination. No cross-contamination to cooked pork was observed in the scenario of using the same hands with new cutting boards and knives. The probability of re-contamination in the scenarios involving re-using the cutting board after washing was significantly higher compared to the scenarios which used a new cutting board. Stochastic simulation found a high risk of cross-contamination from raw to cooked pork when the same hands, knives and cutting boards were used for handling raw and cooked pork (78%); when the same cutting board but a different knife was used, cross-contamination was still high (67%). Cross-contamination between was not seen when different cutting boards and knives were used for cutting raw and cooked pork. This study provided an insight into cross-contamination of; S. enterica; , given common food handling practices in Vietnamese households and can be used for risk assessment of pork consumption.