The Safe Food Handler

How can a employee contaminate food?

Having a foodborne illness, having wounds or boils that contain pathogens, sneezing, coughing, contact with the sick, and not washing hands.

What are actions that can contaminate food?

Scratching scalp, running fingers through hair, wiping nose, touching ear, touching pimples or infected wounds/boils, coughing or sneezing into hands, and spitting.

How do you manage a personal hygiene program?

Creating personal hygiene policies, training food handlers on personal hygiene policies, modeling correct behavior at all times, supervising food safety practices, and revising personal hygiene policies when laws or science changes

Where should you wash hands?

In a sink designated for hand washing.

Where should you NEVER wash your hands?

Never wash your hands in sinks designated for food prep, dish washing, or sinks used for discarding waste water.

What are the steps for washing your hands?

Wet hands and arms, apply soap, scrub, rinse, and dry.

What temperature should hand-washing water be?

85F

What should you use to dry your hands?

A single-use paper towel

How can you avoid contaminating your hands after washing them?

Use a paper towel to open the bathroom door or turn off the sink.

What are the requirements for hand-washing sinks?

They must have a sign saying that it’s a hand washing sink and have a waste basket nearby.

When should you wash your hands?

Before preparing food, handling clean equipment/utensils, and putting on single use gloves; and after using the restroom, touching your body or clothing, coughing, sneezing, blowing nose, using a tissue, eating, drinking, smoking, using tobacco, handling soiled items, handling raw meat, seafood, or poultry, and taking out the trash.

What should you do if you catch an employee doing something and they haven’t washed their hands?

Dispose contaminated food, clean potentially contaminated equipment, and retrain employees at fault if necessary.

Hand antiseptic

A liquid that is used to lower the number of pathogens on skin

What are hand antiseptics often mistaken for?

Hand sanitizer

What should you do if you decide to use hand antiseptics in your operation?

They must be compliant with the CFR and FDA standards, only be used after hand washing, they should never be used to replace hand-washing, and needs time to dry before touching food or equipment.

How should your nails be done?

Nails should be kept short and not have any nail polish on them.

Why do your nails have to be short?

Because long nails can poke holes in gloves and are harder to clean.

impermeable cover

Bandages or finger cots

What do infected wounds, cuts, and boils contain?

Pus

What should you do if you have infected wounds on your hands?

Cover with an impermeable cover and then a single-use glove.

What should you do if the wound is on your arm?

Cover with a bandage

What if the wound is on any other part of your body?

Use a tight-fitting bandage to cover it.

What is the main purpose of single-use gloves?

To protect food from people.

Can single-use gloves be used in place of hand-washing?

Never used single-use gloves as an alternative of hand-washing

When should you use single-use gloves?

When handling ready-to-eat food

What are the exceptions for not using single-use gloves?

Washing produce or handling ingredients for a dish that is going to be cooked to the proper internal temperature.

What should you look for when buying single-use gloves?

They should be approved, disposable, and come in multiple sizes. Consider purchasing a latex-alternative when possible.

How do you use single-use gloves?

Wash hands, select the correct glove size, hold gloves by edge when putting them on, check for rips and tears once they’re on.

What are things you should NEVER do when putting on single-use gloves?

Never blow into gloves, roll for easier application, and wash or reuse them.

When should you change single-use gloves?

As soon as they become dirty, changing tasks, after being interrupted, after handling raw foods, and after 4 hours of continuous use.

What are the standards for cut resistant gloves?

They must be durable, smooth, and nonabsorbent.

How should you serve to high risk populations?

Never serve high-risk populations ready-to-eat food with your bare hands.

What are some exceptions to using your bare hands?

Never use your bare hands unless the food is in a dish that does not contain anything raw and is cooked to at least 145 F or higher or it does contain raw food and will be cooked to the correct internal temperatures.

What should food handlers do to practice good personal hygiene?

Follow the personal hygiene program and bathe or shower before work.

How should food hanlders keep their hair?

They must wear a clean hat or other hair restraint when in food prep areas and wear a beard restraint if they have facial hair.

What should food handler’s NEVER do regarding their hair?

They must never wear hair accessories that could become physical contaminats or wear false eyelashes.

How should food handlers keep their clothes?

They should wear clean clothes daily, change out of uniforms when they become soiled, store street clothes and belongings in designated areas, and keep dirty clothes away from food prep areas.

What should food handlers do with their aprons?

They should hang them up on designated hooks when leaving food prep areas and never wipe their hands on it.

Can food handlers wear jewelry?

No, they cannot wear any jewelry.

Can you wear your medical bracelet in food prep areas?

No, you can’t even have a medical bracelet.

Where should food handlers eat, drink, smoke, or use tobacco?

In designated areas. They should never do it while preparing food, serving, or working in areas to clean equipment and utensils.

What is the exception for employees drinking?

If they have a covered container if they are careful to not contaminate anything.

How do you make sure nobody comes to work when sick?

Staff should let you know when they are sick.

How do you prove that you have asked your employees not to come in sick?

Ask them to sign statements where they have agreed to report illness, document to show that they have completed training, and post signage to remind your employees to notify when they are sick.

When should staff report their sickness?

Before they come to work, getting sick while working, or if they have one of the Big 6 pathogens.

What should you do if your employee tells you they’re sick?

Restrict them from working with exposed food, utensils, and equipment, or exclude them if they have symptoms that could make other people sick.

What should you watch out for in your employees regarding sickness?

Vomiting, excessive trips to the restroom, yellowing of the skin, eyes, and fingernails, cold sweats, chills, sneezing, and persistent nasal discharge.

Training need

A situation where employee training or retraining is necessary.

Why might you need to train or retrain?

New employee, a task is performed incorrectly, new products, new equipment, new menu or menu changes, changes to food safety regulations, verification system shows training is required, or the establishment is involved in an incident

What should you do when retraining staff?

Identify training needs based on roles and responsibilities, develop a curriculum, implement the training using the proper format, assess to determine if the content is understood, and monitor them and take corrective actions if needed.

What should you document when documenting training?

When it took place, where it happened, how it was delivered, and who provided the training and who did it.

What are ways to train employees?

Guided discussions, online training, demos, training videos, games, role-play, jigsaw design, information searches, and the Tell-Show Tell-Show method

Tell-Show Tell-Show

A training method that combines words with actions and provides

an immediate opportunity to check for understanding.

How does Tell-Show Tell-Show work?

Tell the employee what to do verbally, Show them what to do. And then have the employee Tell you the instructions verbally and Show you the proper procedure.

Job Aids

Posters or signs that inform staff about proper actions to take and food safety measures.