Food service managers and employees concern themselves with safe food handling to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks. Sensitive populations, especially the sick, the elderly, children and pregnant women, are particularly susceptible to food-borne microbes that might not negatively impact healthy populations. When food service employees are sick, contact with food must be limited, depending on the severity of the illness. Employers should encourage their employees to be honest about sickness and to take time off, even if it means losing pay.

Guidelines

The United States Department of Agriculture and the National Restaurant Association provide clear food-handling guidelines to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks. Additionally, food service managers and some food staff must pass the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe course to be considered for or to retain employment. The ServSafe course provides managers with detailed guidelines about how to handle sick employees.

Restricted

Food service employees with fevers or sore throats must be restricted from direct contact with food. This means that such employees should not be allowed around food, even with safety precautions such as clean hands, gloves, aprons and hair coverings. Some food service employers allow workers on restricted duty to perform tasks such as setting tables, sweeping and other non-kitchen related duties. Workers with these symptoms should not be allowed to work around high-risk populations in any capacity.

Excluded

If employees exhibit any, or a combination, of the following symptoms, they should be not be allowed to work in any capacity: vomiting, jaundice or diarrhea. Additionally, those who have contracted food-borne illnesses such as salmonella, hepatitis A, shigella or E. coli should not be allowed in the kitchen or any food service area. Managers must receive written clearance from such employees’ health care providers before allowing them to return to work, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Recommendations

Generally speaking, practicing good personal hygiene when on the job prevents the spread of illness. Good personal hygiene is described as washing hands frequently under hot water with soap for 20 seconds, cleaning finger nails, wearing clean gloves, and changing gloves frequently. Food service workers must avoid touching the face, skin, eyes, nose or hair, and must wear clean clothing — preferably uniforms — and hair coverings while handling food.

COMPENSATION: THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE FOOD SAFETY

Before delving further into the topic, I would like to say that if I had to choose one concept that has the greatest impact on your food safety efforts and your quest for a top health inspection grade, it is this: The most effective way to show employees that food safety is a critical part of their job is to have it affect their compensation.

Restaurants can create food safety bonuses that rise or fall depending on how the restaurant performs in health department inspections or inspections by a third-party auditor/consultant. When maintaining a top grade is expected and nothing less will be accepted, a lower score may disqualify management from receiving a bonus.

Reduce the Probability of Getting Sick – QM Mosquito Trap

As we all know that mosquito can cause many diseases, so it is important for food industries to have a mosquito trap to fight mosquito and reduce employee’s probability of getting sick.

The best way to prevent getting sick is to protect your customers and employees from mosquito bites with QM mosquito trap. QM mosquito killers are based on the theory that mosquitoes are attracted to heat, co2 and many other factors. So to make sure they are following the right scent, mosquitoes will start by tracing the co2 scent back to its origin. Once close enough the mosquito will start tracking the heat and finally once everything is correct they will prey for the target and thus setting our trap in motion.

Like MBOX electric mosquito killer that is designed from the bottom up and is assembled without any screws; with just a gentle twist the MBOX mosquito trap can be disassembled to remove any unwanted ‘dead mosquitoes’. Get more information from http://mbox-qm.com