Dr Elizabeth Scott

Dr Elizabeth Scott is an authority on consumer food hygiene and general hygiene issues, and is one of only a few people who have a working knowledge of the subject in both North America and Europe. Her current interests include developing a common approach to hygiene concerns in community settings based upon an understanding of the risk of infection acquisition & transmission in home & related community settings.

Dr Scott has both a Master's degree and Ph.D. in microbiology and has spent twenty years researching, teaching and advising in the field of food and environmental hygiene in the commercial and consumer sectors. Her research project for the Master's degree was a three-year study of the bacterial content of the domestic environment and examined the effectiveness of disinfectants in the home. This work remains the largest published study on the bacteriology of the home (Scott 1981). Research for her Ph.D. at London University looked at the survival and transfer of potential pathogens on inanimate surfaces and provided further insight of the chain of events which can result in errors of hygiene and cause outbreaks of foodborne disease (Scott 1990).

Dr Scott has published widely on aspects of hygiene in the home and the prevention of foodborne illness and is a regular contributor at national and international conferences and seminars. She is one of the first people to bring the subject to the attention of the American scientific community when she convened a seminar at the 1996 American Society of Microbiologists General Meeting in New Orleans on the subject of Foodborne Diseases in the Home She has recently contributed papers at the WHO Europe Symposium on Housing and Health in Italy ( 2002), the UWO Stanier Symposium in Canada ( 2002) & the Japan Society for Antibacterial & Antifungal Agents ( Osaka, 2001).For many years Dr Scott was involved in informing the British public about food hygiene issues via public speaking engagements, television, radio and press articles. In 1993 she moved to the United States and now has professional interests on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr Scott is active as a consultant in food and environmental hygiene in both home and community settings and her expertise enables her to advise on hygiene issues, hygiene research and hygiene education. In addition, she is an Associate Professor in the Biology Department at Simmons College in Boston.

In June 1998, her first book was published, co-authored with Dr Paul Sockett of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Canada. Entitled How to Prevent Food Poisoning: A Practical Guide to Safe Cooking, Foodhandling and Eating. This consumer guide combines practical advice with scientific information to give people a real understanding of the subject and issues.

Publications

Scott, Elizabeth. (2002) Bacterial Biocontamination in Residential Settings. Encyclopedia of Environmental Microbiology. Published by John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Scott, Elizabeth. (2001) Use of Antimicrobials in the Home: Benefits and Concerns. In: Disinfection, Sterilization, and Antisepsis. Principles and Practices in Healthcare Facilities. Edited by William A. Rutala. Published by APIC. Wahington D.C. p206-217.

Sattar, SA., Springthorpe, S., Mani, S., Gallant, M., Nair, RC and Kain, J. (2001) Transfer of bacteria from fabrics to hands and other fabrics: development and application of a quantitative method using Staphylococcus aureus as a model. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 90, 962-970

Scott, Elizabeth. (2001) The Potential benefits of Infection Control Measures in the Home. American Journal of Infection Control supplement : Euroconference-Hygiene and Health. 29, 4, S247-S249

Scott, Elizabeth. (2001) Developing a Rational Approach to Hygiene in the Domestic Setting.
Journal of Infection, 43, 1

Scott, Elizabeth. (2000) Food Safety in the Home. In SAFE HANDLING OF FOODS. Editors J.N. Farber and E.C.D.Todd. Marcel Dekker, New York.

Scott, Elizabeth. (2000) Relationship between cross-contamination and the transmission of foodborne pathogens in the home. Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 19: S111-3

Scott, Elizabeth, Gaber Donna J. & Cusack, Timothy J. (2000) Control of Infection from Animate and Inanimate Surfaces in the Home, Daycare Settings, and Long Term Residential Care Settings. In Disinfection, Sterilization, and Preservation. Editor S. S. Block. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore MD

Scott, Elizabeth. (1999) Hygiene Issues In the Home. American Journal of Infection Control. 27, 6, S 22-25

Scott, E. and Sockett, P. (1998) How to Prevent Food Poisoning: A Practical Guide to Safe Cooking, Eating, and Food Handling. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Bloomfield, S.F. and Scott, E. (1997) Mini review. Cross-contamination and infection in the domestic environment and the role of chemical disinfectants. Journal of Applied Microbiology 83 (1), 1-9.

Scott, E. (1997) Disinfection – Fighting Foodborne Disease at Home. Chemical Times and Trends 20 (2), 28-32.

Bloomfield, S.F. and Scott, E. (1997) A risk-assessment approach to the use of disinfectant procedures in the community. Research and Clinical Forums 19 (6), 37-47.

Scott, E. (1996) A review of foodborne disease and other hygiene issues in the home. Journal of Applied of Bacteriology 80, 5-9.

Gaber, D.J., Cusack, T.M. and Scott, E. (1996) The role of Disinfectants in Controlling Bacterial Contaminants on Environmental Surfaces. In: Modelling Disease Transmission and its Prevention by Disinfection. Hurst, C.J. (ed). Cambridge University Press.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1993) Food hygiene information and education - is the consumer receiving the correct message? In: Proceedings of the 3^rd World Congress on Foodborne Infections and Intoxications. Vol 2, p. 949. Robert von Ostertag Institute. Berlin.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1993) An in-use study of the relationship between bacterial contamination of food preparation surfaces and cleaning cloths. Letters in Applied Microbiology 16, 173-177.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1990) The survival and transfer of microbial contamination via cloths, hands and utensils. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 68, 271-278.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1990) Investigations into the effectiveness of detergent washing, drying and chemical disinfection on contamination of cleaning cloths. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 68, 279-283.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1990) The survival of microbial contamination on worksurfaces and cloths and its transfer via cloths, hands and utensils. Journal of Environmental Health 98 (2), 34-37.

Scott, E. (1990) The survival and transfer of potentially pathogenic bacteria from environmental sites and surfaces. PhD. Thesis. London University.

Scott, E. (1986) Food Poisoning – Don’t be a Statistic. New Home Economics Nov, p11.

Scott, E. and Bloomfield, S.F. (1985) A bacteriological investigation of the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection procedures for toilet hygiene. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 59, 291-297.

Scott, E., Bloomfield, S.F. and Barlow, C.G. (1984) Evaluation of disinfectants in the domestic environment under "in use" conditions. Journal of Hygiene, Cambridge 92, 193-203.

Scott, E., Bloomfield, S.F. and Barlow, C.G. (1984) A comparison of contact plate and calcium alginate swab techniques for the assessment of bacteriological contamination on environmental surfaces. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 56, 317-320.

Scott, E., Bloomfield, S.F. and Barlow, C.G. (1982) An investigation of microbial contamination in the home. Journal of Hygiene, Cambridge 92, 279-293.

Scott, E. 1982. Hygiene in the home - an appraisal of attitudes. The Home Economist 2.3.67.

Scott, E. (1981) Bacterial contamination in the domestic kitchen and its control by disinfectants. M.Phil. Thesis. London University.

Scott, E., Bloomfield, S.F. and Barlow, C.G. (1981) A bacterial survey of hygiene in the home. In: Disinfectants: Their Use and Evaluation of Effectiveness. Collins, Allwood, Bloomfield and Fox (eds). Society of Applied Bacteriology Technical Series 16, 141.

Scott, E. (1980) A survey of hygiene at food preparation sites in the domestic kitchen. The Home Food Adviser 4, 15.