Foodservice Employers: Promote Employees' Personal Hygiene
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