Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets

Frank Vriesekoop; Cryn Russell; Beatriz Alvarez-Mayorga; Kofi E. Aidoo; Qipeng Yuan; Amalia Scannell; Rijkelt R. Beumer; Xiuping Jiang

Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets

Frank Vriesekoop, Cryn Russell, Beatriz Alvarez-Mayorga, Kofi E. Aidoo, Qipeng Yuan, Amalia Scannell, Rijkelt R. Beumer, Xiuping Jiang

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

49 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the “index of economic freedom,” indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1497-1501
Number of pages	5
Journal	Foodborne Pathogens and Disease
Volume	7
Issue number	12
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2010

Keywords

food microbiology
bacteria
pathogens

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Cite this

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title = "Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets",

abstract = "total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the “index of economic freedom,” indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation.",

keywords = "food microbiology, bacteria, pathogens",

author = "Frank Vriesekoop and Cryn Russell and Beatriz Alvarez-Mayorga and Aidoo, {Kofi E.} and Qipeng Yuan and Amalia Scannell and Beumer, {Rijkelt R.} and Xiuping Jiang",

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AU - Vriesekoop, Frank

AU - Russell, Cryn

AU - Alvarez-Mayorga, Beatriz

AU - Aidoo, Kofi E.

AU - Yuan, Qipeng

AU - Scannell, Amalia

AU - Beumer, Rijkelt R.

AU - Jiang, Xiuping

N1 - Originally published in: Foodborne Pathogens and Disease (2010), 7 (12), pp.1497-1501.

PY - 2010/1/1

Y1 - 2010/1/1

N2 - total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the “index of economic freedom,” indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation.

AB - total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced by the material of the notes, and there was a strong correlation between the number of bacteria per square centimeter and a series of indicators of economic prosperity of the various countries. The strongest correlation was found with the “index of economic freedom,” indicating that the lower the index value, the higher the typical bacterial content on the banknotes in circulation.

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KW - bacteria

KW - pathogens

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JF - Foodborne Pathogens and Disease

IS - 12

ER -

Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets

Abstract

Keywords

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