Many Australians admit that they still don't always wash their hands after going to the toilet or before handling food - and men are the worst culprits.
Tomorrow (October 15, 2022) is Global Handwashing Day prompting the Food Safety Information Council to stress the importance of handwashing to prevent food poisoning.
Council Communication Director, Lydia Buchtmann, said good handwashing, using running water, soap and drying hands thoroughly is a basic public health message that people seem to be forgetting.
Independent research commissioned by the Council, found that 18 per cent of Australians say they don't always wash their hands after going to the toilet and 47 per cent admit they don't always wash before touching food.
The research showed men were less likely than women to always wash their hands after going to the toilet (80 per cent of men versus 84 per cent of women) and before touching food (52 per cent of men versus 62 per cent of women).
Young people were less likely than older age groups to always wash their hands after going to the toilet (74 per cent under 34 years versus 86 per cent over 50 years) and before touching food (51 per cent under 34 versus 58 per cent over 50).
Poor handwashing knowledge among young people is also a concern as they often become professional food handlers.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand has recently released a report on the Annual Cost of Foodborne Disease in Australia by the Australian National University which found there are an estimated 4.67 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that result in 47,900 hospitalisations, 38 deaths and cost the economy $2.1 billion.
Ms Buchtmann said poor handwashing could be a major contribution to these figures.
"The Food Safety Information Council's advice is to always wash and dry your hands before handling, preparing and eating food, after touching raw meat, fish, shell eggs or poultry, after touching a pet and after gardening," she said.
Follow these 4 simple tips for hand washing correctly:
1. Wet your hands and rub them together well to build up a good lather with soap for at least 20 seconds and don't forget to wash between your fingers and under your nails. You might have to use a nail brush
2. Rinse well under running water to remove the bugs from your hands
3. Dry your hands thoroughly on a clean towel for at least 20 seconds - touching surfaces with moist hands encourages bugs to spread from the surface to your hands.
4. If no running water is available use alcohol gel.
The council has an education package including a video that can be downloaded here .
The independent research of 1254 people aged 18 years and over was conducted nationally online from August 25-30, 2022. Results were post-weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics data (Census 2016) on age, gender, area and highest level of education completed.