One of the country's best known chefs and food writers, Darina Allen, said she would not allow sterilising agents or antibacterial products to be used in her cookery school at Ballymaloe in Co Cork.
"I have banned my staff from using them and have strongly advised them not to use them in their own homes either," she told an environmental health conference in Kilkenny yesterday.
She claimed that by using the products, kitchen staff were killing good bacteria as well as bad bugs, and allowing highly resistant strains of bacteria which were untreatable to flourish.
"In my opinion there is no substitute for plenty of hot water, soap and a good scrubbing brush."
Environmental Health Officers' Association press officer, Ms Ann Marie Part said, however, the use of such sterilants was recommended by them but was not mandatory. "We have always recommended that people use hot water to sterilise equipment," she added.
Ms Allen said, however, the use of sterilants and anti-bacterial products in UK hospitals had led to "a positive deterioration of hygiene standards". She added that plastic gloves were not used at Ballymaloe. "I'd rather insist that people wash their hands on a regular basis," she said.
She claimed the current BSE crisis would look like a picnic compared to what was coming down the line. She said the use of antibiotics in food production as prophylactics (preventing disease) or as growth promoters would soon dominate the world food industry like no other issue.
Ms Allen said these drugs were entering the food chain and were lowering natural human resistance to infection. The problem in her opinion was out of control. Small, successful food producers faced extinction if the "current mindless and politically motivated drive towards the ultimate regulation is allowed to go unchecked", Ms Allen said.
She attacked the new risk management system operated by the health board. It was inefficient and in some cases counterproductive, she claimed.
Criticising the new hazard analysis critical control point regulations, she said they were silly to the point of folly.