Don’t forget to Wash your Hands!

With Food Safety Week upon us, it is important that we look at some of the most important food safety and food handling issues. One of those issues that should never be forgotten is the importance of personal hygiene and hand washing in particular, for people who work in the food industry as well as those preparing food at home.

People whose jobs entail working with food or food surfaces should be extra careful because they are risking the health of everyone who consumes their food so they have an additional responsibility to wash their hands often.

Hands should be washed at the following times in particular:

• Prior to beginning their shift at work
• Before they handle cooked or ready-to-eat food
• After they handle or prepare raw food
• After touching or handling waste
• After performing cleaning duties
• After using the toilet, blowing their nose, sneezing or coughing
• After eating, drinking or smoking
• Or after touching or handling money

Proper hand washing is extremely important even when using gloves. In these instances hand washing should be carried out before putting gloves on, between glove changes and after gloves are removed.

By ensuring your hands are clean, you prevent spreading bacteria such as Salmonella, E-coli and Staph through your food.