Sponges are frequently used in kitchens and have been shown to harbor large numbers of bacteria, occasionally also pathogens. Less is known about kitchen brushes regarding usage and presence of bacteria. In the present study, the use of sponges and brushes was studied in a survey among 9966 European consumers in ten countries, and growth and survival of bacteria in sponges and brushes were examined in laboratory experiments.

Sponges were the preferred hand-cleaning utensils for washing-up in the majority of countries, while brushes were most frequently used in Denmark and Norway. Consumers mostly change their sponges at regular times, but also sensory cues (looks dirty, smelly, slimy) and usage occurrences such as wiping up meat juices may trigger replacement. Besides cleaning the dishes, over a quarter of the dish brush users also use it to clean a chopping board after soilage from chicken meat juices.

The water uptake and drying rate varied considerably, both between different sponges and between brushes and sponges, where brushes dried fastest. Campylobacter survived one day in all sponges and Salmonella more than seven days in two of three types of sponges. In the type of sponge that dried slowest, Salmonella grew on the first day and was always found in higher levels than in the other sponges. Non-pathogenic bacteria grew in the sponges and reached levels around 9 log CFU/sponge. In brushes all types of bacteria died over time. Campylobacter and Salmonella were reduced by more than 2.5 log to below the detection limit after one and three days, respectively. Bacteriota studies revealed a tendency for a dominance by Gram-negative bacteria and a shift to high relative prevalence of Pseudomonas over time in sponges. Both enumeration by agar plating and bacteriota analysis confirmed that the pathogens were in a minority compared to the other bacteria.

Treatments of sponges and brushes with chlorine, boiling or in the dishwasher were effective to reduce Salmonella.

We conclude that brushes are more hygienic than sponges and that their use should be encouraged. Contaminated sponges or brushes should be replaced or cleaned when they may have been in contact with pathogenic microorganisms, e.g. used on raw food spills. Cleaning of sponges and brushes with chlorine, boiling or dishwasher may be a safe alternative to replacing them with new ones.

海绵经常在厨房中使用，并且已经显示出藏有大量细菌，偶尔也包含病原体。关于厨用刷子在细菌的使用和存在方面知之甚少。在本研究中，在对十个国家的9966名欧洲消费者进行的一项调查中研究了海绵和刷子的使用，并在实验室实验中检查了海绵和刷子中细菌的生长和存活。

在大多数国家/地区，海绵是首选的洗手工具，而丹麦和挪威最常使用刷子。消费者大多会定期更换海绵，但也有感官提示（看起来脏，有臭，发粘），并且擦拭肉汁等使用情况可能会触发更换。除了清洁餐具外，超过四分之一的餐具刷使用者还使用它来清洁鸡肉汁中的污物。

在不同的海绵之间以及在刷子和海绵之间（刷子干燥最快的地方），其吸水率和干燥速率变化很大。弯曲杆菌在所有海绵中存活一天，而沙门氏菌在三种海绵中的两种中存活超过7天。在干燥最慢的海绵类型中，沙门氏菌在第一天生长，并且总是比其他海绵中的含量更高。非病原性细菌在海绵中生长，并达到约9 log CFU /海绵的水平。随着时间的流逝，所有类型的细菌都会死亡。弯曲杆菌和沙门氏菌分别在1天和3天后减少了超过2.5 log的检测限。细菌研究表明，随着时间的推移，海绵中革兰氏阴性菌占主导地位，假单胞菌向相对较高的流行率转移。琼脂平板计数法和细菌分析法均证实，与其他细菌相比，病原体占少数。

用氯，沸腾或在洗碗机中对海绵和刷子进行处理可有效减少沙门氏菌。

我们得出的结论是，刷子比海绵更卫生，应鼓励使用它们。当污染的海绵或刷子可能与病原微生物接触时应予以更换或清洁，例如用于生食溢出物。用氯，沸腾或洗碗机清洁海绵和刷子可能是用新的海绵和刷子替代的安全选择。