Employee hygiene and health

Good personal hygiene is essential for food safety and to prevent against food borne illness. Infected persons and poor personal hygiene account for about twenty-five percent (25%) of food borne illness outbreaks.

Contaminated hands transmit bacteria and viruses from the body and from the feces to food. Managers must adopt a policy that employees with diarrhea and flulike symptoms do not work around food.

Employees may also feel fine and still be infective. Such is the case if a worker is infected be Hepatitis A. A person can be shedding the virus about 20 days before he or she shows symptoms of the illness. If proper hand-washing practices have been established, they may be effective in controlling the spread of illness.

Food safety standards for employees

The following are guidelines that must be followed by all foodservice employees

Illness anyone who is sick should not work with food. Inform your supervisor if you have a severe cold or diarrhea

Cuts/burns wounds should be bandaged antiseptically. Cover bandages with a waterproof protection such as rubber gloves or finger cots, inform your supervisor

Plastic gloves if plastic gloves are utilized, wear them over thoroughly washed hands. The loose-fitting style is recommended. Change the gloves often and under the same circumstances as you would wash your hands.

Fingernails keep fingernails clean and trimmed. False fingernails and nail polish should not be worn as they chip or break off into the food.

Jewelry jewelry is not to be worn, as it gets dirty, can get lost in food, or can even cause injury when caught by a hot or sharp object or equipment

Uniforms uniforms are to be clean, changed daily and worn in designated areas. Wear clean clothes to work and change only in locker room. Uniforms should not be worn to and from work

Aprons wear a clean apron. An apron should not be used as a hand towel. Follow hand washing procedures after touching or wiping your hands on apron. Remove your apron when leaving the food preparation area

Hair restraints hats and hairnets are considered proper hair restraints. Hair restraints are required to keep hair and its contaminants out of food. After touching hair or face, follow proper hand washing procedures

Grooming bath daily, use deodorant, change into clean clothes daily. Wear work shoes and keep them cleaned

Smoke only in designated areas. EAT only in employee dining room. Do not CHEW GUM while working. Follow proper hand-washing procedures after SMOKING, EATING, DRINKING OR CHEWING. This is important in preventing mouth to hand contamination

Hand Washing

Why proper hand washing is essential!!

Emphasis on proper hygiene for foodservice workers is fundamental for food protection and sanitation practice. Hand washing is probably the most important aspect of personal hygiene. Unclean hands can easily transmit microbial agents to food products. Management has the responsibility to provide hand washing sinks, hot water, soaps and paper towels (or dryers) in the kitchen and rest room areas, and to encourage employees to use the facilities throughout the workday as necessary. Sinks used to prepare foods must not be used to wash hands.

Foodservice personal has the responsibility to practice good personal hygiene with special attention to washing their hands when beginning work, frequently during the work period, and every time after having performed the activities shown below.

As adequate hand-washing is a cornerstone of aseptic practice in medical facilities, it is undoubtedly a most important factor in preventing the transmission of disease organism in a food establishment

1. thoroughly wash hands and exposed portion of your arms with soap and warm water
   • before starting work
   • during work as often as needed to keep clean after break time
   • after touching anything that can be a source of contamination:

Telephone, money, soiled linens, raw foods, meats, shell eggs, fresh produce, dirty dishes, equipment, utensils, trash

· after using cleaners or chemicals

· after performing personal needs, such as smoking, eating, drinking, sneezing, coughing or using the bathroom

· after picking up items off the floor

1. follow proper steps in hand washing
   • use soap and warm water (105 F) running water
   • rub your hands vigorously for 20 seconds
   • wash all surfaces including:

a. backs of hands

b. between fingers

c. under fingernails

• use nail brush around and under fingernails
• rinse well under running water
• dry hands with paper towel
• turn off water and open door with a paper towel instead of your bare hands

1. make sure all hand washing stations and rest rooms are well stocked with soap and towels

Kitchen safety

Safety and sanitation are directly related to each other; sometimes it is hard to separate them. The food service manager is responsible for establishing and maintaining safety standards, but the food service employees have an equal stake in preventing accidents and injuries. In Ohio alone, more than two thousand food service workers and managers are hurt on the job every year.

As you might expect, most accidents happen because of simple carelessness workers are in too much of a hurry – they don’t pay attention to what they are doing, or don’t bother to read and follow safety procedures. It is a manger’s responsibility to teach and demonstrate good safety practices, and then monitor employee’s enthusiasm additionally, the occupational safety and health act (OSHA) requires that any foodservice establishment have a complete first aid kit available to employees at all times.

Slips and falls one-fourth of all accidents in the kitchen are slips and falls. Here is a way to prevent such accidents

• clean slippery materials from stairs and floors
• use wooden duck boards or nonabrasive strips on hard surface floors
• use abrasive covering in wet or greasy areas
• wipe up all liquid, food or grease spills immediately
• Keep all items off the floor. Do not store items on the floor even for a short time
• require employees to wear proper footwear
• Discourage employees from running. Walking quickly or engage in horseplay
• provide handrails in stairways
• provide adequate lighting for all work areas and stairwells
• Do not overload serving trays. When loading a tray, be sure the server can see over and around it
• watch possible problem spots such as the floor around ice machines, deep fat fryers and salad preparation areas

Cuts and bruises cuts and bruises are another common problem for foodservice workers. Help to prevent cuts and bruises by taking these measures:

• Post operation regulations for all equipment. require strict observance of the regulations
• Keep knives sharp and use the proper knife for each job. Dull knives require more pressure than sharp ones and cause more cuts
• Handle and clean knives properly. Clean with the cutting edge away from you. Use a paper towel. Never wipe a knife on your apron. If a knife or other implement falls, step back and allow it to hit the floor. Only a professional juggler can catch an airborne knife without grabbing the blade. Do not place knifes or cutting blades from equipment in water filled sinks. Wash these items immediately and put them away
• Use a cutting board surface for cutting. Hold the food to be cut in a way that will prevent injury to your fingers. Slice a portion from the bottom of an unstable item to make a flatter surface and give you a better hold during the cutting process
• provide side towels so workers can keep their hands and utensils clean from grease
• cut away from the body when using cutting tools
• use tampers to push food into choppers and grinding machines always use guards on power-driven machines
• sweep up broken glass or other sharp objects before washing the floors

Burns burns present a serious and constant hazard to foodservice workers in every type of kitchen. They are built-in danger, much like a microwave with a bad seal. But burns are avoidable. Follow yourself and your crew:

• Require preparation employees to wear well-fitting uniforms with long sleeves. Expose as little skin as possible
• keep pot holders dry and readily available
• Position equipment correctly. remember that all equipment is potentially dangerous
• Keep handles of pots and pans turned in from the edge of the stove, so that they cannot be knocked off and spill their contents
• Never overfill a container with hot food. Allow enough freeboard to prevent splash and spillage
• Water causes hot grease to “pop” items to be deep fried must be thoroughly drained and free of excess water. Be particularly careful with potatoes
• In case of a minor burn or scald, put the injured part under cold water or apply ice immediately to prevent blistering and relieve pain

Strains strains, like burns are almost constant hazard foodservice industry. And, like burns, they are preventable if you use common sense:

• When lifting, be sure your footing is secure
• Get a firm grip on the item to be lifted. Lift with the heavy muscles of the legs so that the back is not strained. Bend knees and push while lifting
• Do not obstruct your vision by stacking items to high
• Arrange equipment properly so that extremely heavy loads do not have to be lifted
• Set per-person weight limits and require workers to ask for help when these limits are exceeded

Controlling infectious disease

A wide range of communicable disease and infections may be transmitted by infected food employees. Proper management to begins employing healthy employees and instituting a system to identify employees who present a risk of transmitting food borne pathogens to food or other employees

It is the responsibility of management to convey to applicants and employees the importance of notifying the person in charge of any changes in an employee’s health status. Once notified, the person in charge must take action to prevent the likelihood of the transmission of food borne illness. Food employees or applicants are required to report if they:

1. diagnosed with an illness caused by:
   • salmonella typhi
   • Shigella spp.
   • Escherichia coli 015:H7
2. have symptoms of intestinal illness
   • have boils or infected wounds
   • have a high risk of becoming ill
   • live with an ill person
   • live with a person involved in a disease outbreak
   • traveled outside the united states in the last 50 days
3. prepared or consumed food that caused disease outbreak

Preventing cross-contamination, grill or prep-at-service-stations

Cross-contamination can be prevented by properly handling and storing foods during production:

• Store each type of raw meat in separate containers. For example, chicken and fish require different final cooking temperatures. If stored together, both products require a higher final cooking temperature of 165 F. if stored separately, fish needs to be cooked only at 145 F

Note:

Eliminate cross-contamination by frequently cleaning and sanitizing equipment, utensils and all work surfaces during production

Preventing cross-contamination, safe handling of cold foods

When working with cold foods or foods will not be further heat treated, follow these general guidelines:

• Wash all fruit and vegetables to remove germs
• Don not se prep sinks as hand sinks
• Use separate cutting boards for raw and cooked foods
• Separate preparation areas for meats and vegetables
• When mixing ingredients avoid hand contact
• Wash hands with soap and warm water as often as needed
• Store and display cols foods at 40 F or colder

Sanitizing procedures

Sanitizing is the reduction of microorganisms to safe levels. Before sanitizing can be achieved, soil and food particles must be removed from the surface of equipment and utensils. After washing to remove the food particles and soil, the surface must be rinsed. Rinsing removes the detergent and any remaining loose particles. Detergents must be rinsed off; they reduce the effectiveness of the sanitizer solution. Sanitizing is not a substitute for clearing.

There are two ways to sanitize:

1. heat-rinse temperature need to be greater than 170 F
2. chemical-sanitizer solutions are most effective in the temperature range of 75 F to 120 F

The correct concentrations of various sanitizers are shown in the following table:

Chlorine

Iodine

Quaternary ammonia

1 teaspoon per gallon

50-100ppm*

1 ounce (2 tablespoons) per gallon = 25 ppm

12.5-25 ppm*

Quaternary concentrations vary.

You need to test the quaternary ratio to water for your brand

100-200 ppm*

• use test strips to determine the proper strength of the sanitizer’

To sanitize a surface properly:

1. first wash with warm soapy water
2. then rinse with clean water
3. Finally, wipe with sanitizer solutions. Do not rinse or towel dry

Correct table and kitchen are washing by hand

1. sort crap and pre-rinse

2. wash detergent and water at not less than 110 F

3. rinse clean hot water

4. sanitize chlorine iodine quaternary ammonia at 180 F

5. drain and dry before storage

Using thermometers

Temperature is an integral part of food safety. Choosing a proper thermometer and using it correctly are important to prevent food safety hazards at critical control points

Temperature control is important:

• to keep food out of the danger zone
• to document critical food temperatures in cooking, cooling, reheating hot holding and cold holding
• to monitor temperature control at receiving and delivery

Note:

Clean and sanitize thermometer after each use to prevent cross-contamination.

To sanitize, use alcohol wipe or chlorine or quaternary ammonia at the recommended concentration

A thermometer should be calibrated weekly, or when it dropped or exposed to extreme temperatures

Types of thermometers

Bimetallic stemmed thermometer

• this is the most common type of food thermometer
• the reading is on top of the unit
• the calibration nut is found below the dial

Digital thermometers

• this thermometer measures temperature through a metal tip at its end
• it shows the thermometer on a rapidly easy to read panel
• Calibration is set at the factory. When a digital thermometer is out of calibration, it must be standardized to calibrate thermometers or discarded

Thermocouple

• this type measures temperature electrically through a sensor in the tip
• it shows temperature on a digital readout panel
• temperature calibration can be adjusted manually
• Many thermometers of this type are equipped with inter changeable temperature probes. These are especially practical to monitor the temperature of thin products, such as hamburgers and cold or hot spots on the grills

Time temperature indicators

• these devices are usually found on packages and look like labels
• they are used to monitor temperatures on Sous Vide, modified atmosphere packages or cook-chilled foods
• they have liquid crystals that change color or turn black if foods reach unsafe temperatures

Equipment thermometers

• thermometers of this type are usually found in refrigerators, freezers, hot-holding equipment and dishwashers

Candy, meat, deep-fry thermometers

• such thermometers are used for only one type of food (candy, meat, or deep-fat fried foods)
• never use mercury-filled or glass thermometers they may break and cause contamination

How to use thermometers

1. clean and sanitize thermometer
2. insert probe into thickest part of the product
3. allow time for the temperature to stabilize
4. wash and sanitize thermometer between each product and check before replacing thermometer in its holder
5. When checking a food delivery, it is recommended not to puncture through sealed packaging. Rather place the thermometer between two products to check the temperature
6. calibrate each thermometer frequently (weekly or at least once a month, or after it is dropped)

Calibrating a probe thermometer

When: frequently (at least once a month)

How:

1. fill a medium-sized glass with ice add water to ice
2. wait three (3) minutes (stir water occasionally)
3. after three minutes the reading should be 32 F
4. if the reading is off (does not read 32 F)
5. leave it in the ice water until ready to calibrate
6. using pliers 7/16” wrench, or an adjustable wrench turn the adjustable nut on the back of the thermometer until the needle reads 32 F
7. add more ice to glass and insert thermometer again for three minutes
8. after three minutes the thermometer should read 32 F
9. if not, repeat corrective action or replace

Who: each chef or cook doing food preparation of potentially hazardous foods should have access to a probe thermometer