Common sense tells us that personal hygiene is the most important factor in food service hygiene. If people preparing food don't take pride in their appearance and cleanliness, the quality and safety of what they are serving will most assuredly suffer. Food service workers need to be educated on the rights and wrongs of healthy food preparation and supplied with the proper supplies such as gloves, hairnets and sanitizing hand products.
Some key communication points for employees working in a food preparation area:
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Wash hands thoroughly.
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Workers who have a cold, the flu or another communicable illness should inform their supervisor and not handle food.
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Report to work in good health, clean and dressed in clean attire.
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Change aprons when they become soiled.
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Treat and bandage wounds and sores immediately. When hands are bandaged, wear single-use gloves to cover the bandage.
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Cover any lesion containing pus with a bandage. If the lesion is on a hand or wrist, cover with an impermeable cover, such as a finger cot or stall, and a single-use glove.
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Keep clean by bathing daily, using deodorant and washing hair regularly.
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Eat, drink, use tobacco or chew gum only in designated break areas where food or food-contact surfaces may not become contaminated.
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Wear clean clothing/uniform and/or apron.
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Avoid wearing jewelry, which can harbor bacteria and cause a physical hazard if parts fall into the food. Jewelry can also pose a personal safety hazard if it is caught in the equipment.
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Keep fingernails clean, unpolished and trimmed short.
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Avoid unguarded coughing or sneezing.
To read more about personal hygiene in food service, click here: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/foodsafety/downloads/hygiene_personal.pdf
The United States Department of Agriculture has announced that they are adding 6 strains of e.coli to its list of adulterants that will no longer be permitted in meat. Collectively, these germs have been demonstrated to cause more foodborne illnesses than their more well-known and already banned counterpart, e.coli 0157.
While representatives from the meat industry opposed these new regulations, stating that current procedure to identify e.coli 0157:H7 were sufficient to also protect against contamination from other strains, food safety advocates hailed the new rule as a victory in the fight against preventable disease.
Last year, the 6 newly banned strains caused a confirmed 451 infections, including 69 hospitalizations and 1 death. That compares to 442 infections, 184 hospitalizations and 2 deaths attributed to the more common e.coli 0157.
The Centers for Disease Control is quick to caution that these figures are likely to be under-representations of the actual number of illnesses caused by e.coli of all varieties. That's because many people who contract illnesses from contaminated foods never report them. Only more serious cases or those tied to large or well-publicized outbreaks tend to get reported, and the CDC estimates that actual figures may be as high as 265,000 infections annually - with 113,000 of those attributed to the newly banned strains.
More information is available here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44490454/ns/health-food_safety/
A study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control found that the scrubs worn by hospital workers and healthcare professionals can harbor a broad range of potentially dangerous pathogens, including germs that can lead to pneumonia, blood diseases and antibiotic-resistant infections.
When researchers sampled the sleeves, waists and pockets of 75 registered nurses and 60 doctors working in a busy hospital environment, they found a slew of bacteria on a majority of uniforms. In fact, 60 percent of the uniforms tested proved positive for pathogens, including the frequently deadly MRSA bacteria.
According to news reports, "half of the samples tested positive for one or more pathogens; potentially dangerous bacteria were isolated from at least one site on 63 percent of the uniforms. Of those, 11 percent of the bugs were resistant to multiple front-line antibiotics."
The study didn't verify a positive link between scrubs and actual patient infections, but many in the medical profession are concerned by the findings. Recommendations for addressing the issue include having hospitals provide their employees on-premises laundry service to ensure proper care and to prevent healthcare workers from performing their own - often inadequate - laundering.
For more information about the study and the industry's response, visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334682/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
All of us are undoubtedly aware of the value in recycling and reusing the producst that we consume ever day, but the sheer scope of how much we use as individuals and as part of organizations is something that we may be less aware of.
That's why an initiative is beginning in October with the goal of that assessing the use of plastics by companies and institutions worldwide. By establishing a greater understanding of our "plastic footprint," those behind the effort hope to promote the sort of waste-consciousness that has been the driving force behind other recycling and conservation efforts around the globe.
“What we’re trying to do is to have companies manage and use plastic much more wisely, and to receive recognition for doing so from both customers and investors,” said Doug Woodring, the environmental entrepreneur who has taken the lead to promote this program.
For more information about the initiative, read the whole article at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/business/energy-environment/raising-awareness-of-plastic-waste.html?_r=1
Sending your children off to school or daycare always comes with its share of concern - parents worry over everything from the safety of the busses that kids ride on to the integrity of the people who care for them.
Now it turns out that there may be an added risk, and it's one that starts right at home: sack lunches. It turns out that recent testing has shown that by the time kids unpack their midday meals, 9 out of 10 of them have reached temperatures conducive to bacteria growth. Surprisingly, that even goes for lunches that have been prepared with ice packs.
Parents shouldn't necessarily be alarmed by this news, though. While conditions may be right for a potential threat, that doesn't mean that there is an appreciable increase in real risk.
According to Dr. Michael Green, a Pittsburgh-based pediatrician and pediatrics professor, “The risk could be going from one in a million to one in 950,000. Or it could be going to one in a thousand. We don’t know.”
So what should you do? Right now, the medical establishment has yet to put forward any particular guidance, but awareness is always a good place to start. To learn more about the study and what concerned parents should really take away from it, read the article here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44039875/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/t/out-preschoolers-lunches-reach-unsafe-temperatures/
In a move designed to reduce foodborne illnesses and the spread of deadly bacteria this summer, the USDA has created a new program titled “Food Safe Families." The program offers tips on how to handle, clean and prepare food - especially important, considering the toll that food-borne illnesses take on Americans each year.
Just how serious an issue is it? An estimated 48 million Americans suffer from a foodborne illness each year, with 180,000 requiring hospitalization and 3,000 ultimately dying.
The key to avoiding these illnesses is handling and preparing foods in the safest manner possible. That goes not only for products like eggs and chicken, which are widely known to be potential sources of germs and illness, but also less commonly suspected items, including fruits and vegetables.
For practical, easy-to-implement safety tips, along with plenty of additional information about proper food handling procedures, check out the USDA's Food Safety site here:
http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/index.html
While the sickness rates for most foodborne have remained relatively flat over the past 15 years, the United States is having a tough time controlling the outbreak of salmonella, with cases rising by 10 percent of the last few years.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that they have made little progress in the fight against salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration put in place rules last summer that will hopefully reduce the cases of salmonella poisoning from eggs.
Let’s hope new rules are in place soon for other salmonella sources such as milk, meat, and kitchen hygiene, among others.
To read the entire article, click here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43312818/ns/health-food_safety/
Common sense tells us to shower after we get out of the pool to wash the chlorine and other pool chemicals from our body and hair. But now a study done by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, suggests that you should shower prior to getting into a pool as well.
By showering beforehand, you prevent germs that may be on your skin from outside the pool mutating into harmful germs that can turn into recreational water illnesses (RWI) and cause cramping, diarrhea and nausea.
To learn more about why showing before entering a pool is important and how to prevent RWI, click here:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/21/yuck-most-kids-dont-shower-before-using-public-pools/
Don’t be fooled by the warm summer weather. Just because it’s not cold anymore and you’re enjoying your time in the sun, catching a “cold” is just as likely to happen if you don’t take the steps to prevent it.
Remember, when your sunglasses, beach towels, baseballs, flip flops and other objects aren’t in your hands, they’re in dirt, mud, grass, a mitt, someone else’s hands – everywhere! And that means germs are everywhere, too.
According to the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, practicing good hand hygiene is the key to avoiding viruses. For more information on how to stay in the sun and out of bed all summer, click here:
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/kingwood/living/article_9521049b-726c-50f4-a105-a00a88ca7268.html
Keeping a cut on her hand from the family fish tank a secret could cost a California girl her right hand.
If you ever doubt that germs are as opportunistic as you hear, consider this: When she was 8 years old, Hannele Cox, an aspiring gymnast, cut her hand on the family’s fish tank. She hid her cut from her mother for 5 days, but by then the damage had already begun: A rare, flesh-eating infection called mycobacterium marinum had already begun to destroy her skin. Now, five years later, the infection has spread to the bones of her hand. The Cox family visited Denver, Colorado this week to meet with infectious disease experts at the National Jewish Medical Center to seek further treatment.
To read more about Hannele’s story to save her right hand, click here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/flesh-eating-fish-tank-bacteria-lead-teens-amputation/story?id=13837034