Tip of the Week
Did you know that food handlers themselves are the greatest cause of food poisoning incidents in this country!
When a food handler is ill and continues to work in the kitchen, there is a high risk of passing bacteria or viruses to other members of staff and customers. Sometimes the food handler is not aware they could be contagious as the infection may be mild, or it could be the very early onset of illness, so they do not feel ill.
Bacteria and viruses passed from contaminated food handlers are usually picked up from dirty hands on common touchpoints such as fridge handles, microwave handles, worktops, tap handles etc. Ready to eat foods are the greatest risk as the cooking process would kill off most bacteria.
It is vital to have good handwash procedures in place, but it is also critical to include all the common touchpoints in your daily cleaning regime to reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of bacteria.
Follow a 2-stage cleaning process – use blue roll and sanitiser (ideally with a contact time of 30 seconds). Spray surface with sanisiter and wipe with blue roll to clean the surface, then spray again and leave for the contact time to sanitise.
Common touchpoints include –
- Taps
- Fridge door handles
- Microwave door handles
- Kitchen work surfaces
- Door handles and push panels
- Light switches (spray onto blue roll not onto surface)
Alert
Make sure your kitchen sanitiser complies with BS EN 1276 (ideally with a contact time of 30 seconds) so it is effective against E.coli and Campylobacter bacteria
Weekly Food Fact
Did you know that Bacteria such as E.coli can be found on over a quarter of our hands! This is the reason for frequent hand washing as often it is the food handlers themselves who spread food poisoning bacteria with infected hands.
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