Nail Brush

Breaking the Feacal-Hand-Oral Chain

The best implement to wash a hand is the other hand. Brushless hand washing is the standard. However, there are limitations. In the case of hand washing, the use of a nail brush in select situations is often essential for effective cleaning.

Oral care offers a good comparison. Toothpaste is a wonderful oral hygiene product to remove surface food and bacteria. However, without flossing, organic plaque will flourish between teeth and below the gum line. The same can happen when pathogens hide under and around finger nails.

The Centers For Disease Control has now confirmed that the number one pathogen group responsible for food borne illness is the Norovirus. This virus originates in the toilet. The route of food contamination is feacal-hand-oral. Feacal deposits, often not visible to the naked eye, are trapped beneath nails and around cuticle tissue. Properly used, the nail brush breaks this chain of contamination and sends these dangerous pathogens down the drain.

Selecting a nail brush requires an understanding of brush construction. Bristles must first be made of materials, which are non-absorbent. They must also offer flexibility to reach beneath the nail and strength to provide effective cleaning. Using the right nail brush, one that is not too aggressive, stimulates strong healthy cuticles much like tooth brushing does for the gums.

The ideal nail brush. Bristles must be fused rather than stapled. Most nail brushes use the stapling method, which creates potentially germ laden pockets at the base of the bristles. Fused bristles are easy to clean, virtually self cleaning with each use.

Handwashingforlife recommends running nail brushes through your dishwasher at the end of every shift.

On tethering the nail brush to the hand washing station... Does the tethering raise more hygiene questions and user concern? Considering the value of the nail brush versus the cost, perhaps recycling them frequently is a better option.

Research:

Source: Journal of Food Protection: Vol. 66, No. 12, pp. 2296–2301.

ABSTRACT:

Compared with other parts of the hand, the area beneath fingernails harbours the most microorganisms and is most difficult to clean. Artificial fingernails, which are usually long and polished, reportedly harbour higher microbial populations than natural nails. Hence, the efficacy of different hand washing methods for removing microbes from natural and artificial fingernails was evaluated. Strains of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli JM109 and feline calicivirus (FCV) strain F9 were used as bacterial and viral indicators, respectively. Volunteers with artificial or natural nails were artificially contaminated with ground beef containing E. coli JM109 or artificial feces containing FCV. Volunteers washed their hands with tap water, regular liquid soap, antibacterial liquid soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel, regular liquid soap followed by alcohol gel, or regular liquid soap plus a nailbrush. The greatest reduction of inoculated microbial populations was obtained by washing with liquid soap plus a nailbrush, and the least reduction was obtained by rubbing hands with alcohol gel. Lower but not significantly different (P > 0.05) reductions of E. coli and FCV counts were obtained from beneath artificial than from natural fingernails. However, significantly (P 0.05) higher E. coli and FCV counts were recovered from hands with artificial nails than from natural nails before and after hand washing. In addition, microbial cell numbers were correlated with fingernail length, with greater numbers beneath fingernails with longer nails. These results indicate that best practices for fingernail sanitation of food handlers are to maintain short fingernails and scrub fingernails with soap and a nailbrush when washing hands.

© Copyright by International Association for Food Protection

Nail Brush Selection Checklist:

Eliminate existing brushes where risk of contamination is higher than added cleansing benefit. These include brushes that:

• Have non-plastic or non-fused bristles
• Have wooden base
• Have staples holding bristles in place
• Are tethered to station with dirty chain, rope or plastic.

Be cautious if you are currently immersing your brush in a sanitizing solution:

• Handwashingforlife has found that brushes immersed in santising solution are avoided by employees.
• Sanitising solutions are difficult to maintain in the proper range of efficacy (ie. they are often too strong, over diluted or contaminated).

Select brushes that:

• Have soft/medium bristles with tested efficacy
  (test yourself using Glo-Lotion and UV light)
• Have fused bristle technology
• Are self-cleaning, dish washer durable and microwavable.
• Purchase in bulk for best price and ready availability.

Leadership Companies: