Ch. 3 Safe Food Handler

Question 1

Why is it important to have a personal hygiene program? What kinds of behaviors can facilitate easy transfer of pathogens?

Answer 1

• important to prevent contamination and maintain facility cleanliness
• behaviors including touching hair, face, or body

Question 2

What is the hand washing procedure? How long should it take? Should sanitizers/antiseptics be used instead?

Answer 2

• occurs in hand washing sinks ONLY
• 1.) wet hands with warm running water
• 2.) apply soap to lather
• 3.) scrub hands and arms for 10-15 seconds
• 4.) rinse hands and arms under running water
• 5.) dry hands and arms with single use paper towel or hand dryer
• should take 20 seconds
• sanitizers and antiseptics NEVER should be used in place

Question 3

When should hands be washed?

Answer 3

• when: before they handle food and after they are dirty
• dirty including: using restroom, handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, touching hair face body, sneezing coughing tissue, eating drinking smoking, handling chemicals, taking out garbage, clearing taboles, handling money, touching clothing, leaving and returning to kitchen/prep, handling animals

Question 4

How should hands be cared for? How should cuts or burns be cared for?

Answer 4

• hands: short clean fingernails (if wearing single use gloves allowed false nails or nail polish)
• cuts and burns must be covered with a bandage, and the bandage covered with a glove or finger cot

Question 5

How should gloves be used? How should gloves not be used? When should they be changed? How should RTE food be handled?

Answer 5

• should: hands must be washed
• NOT: washing and reusing gloves, blowing into gloves, rolling gloves up to put on
• change: become dirty or torn, before beginning a different task, after interruption (ex. phone), after handling raw meat, seafood or poultry and before handling RTE food, after 4 hrs of continuous use
• DO NOT handle RTE food with bare hands, esp with high risk population

Question 6

What attire should food handlers wear? When eating, drinking, smoking etc what should they not do?

Answer 6

• attire: clean hair (or beard) restraint, clean clothes, remove aprons when leaving food area (never wipe hands on apron), NO jewelry (rings unless plain band, bracelets, watches)
• should not: prep or serve food, work in prep areas, work in areas used to clean utensils and equipment

Question 7

Regarding staff illnesses, if a member has a sore throat with fever symptoms that can be controlled with medicine should they be restricted from food handling or excluded from the operation?

Answer 7

• restrict for general public, no doctors note

- exclude if working with high risk population, need doctors note

Question 8

Regarding staff illnesses, if a member has symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, or jaundice should they be restricted from food handling or excluded from the operation?

Answer 8

• excluded

- only to return within 24 hrs of the last symptom

Question 9

Regarding staff illnesses, if a member is diagnosed with a specific illness such as any “Big 5” should they be restricted from food handling or excluded from the operation?

Answer 9

• excluded
• doctors note
• report to health department