People are one of the most common routes for contamination into food. You can transfer bacteria and viruses from hands, clothes, hair and wounds, even when you do not feel ill yourself. That is why personal hygiene is one of the most important prerequisites. The rules are in Annex II, chapter VIII of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and are explained in the Swedish Food Agency's guidance.
Hands
Hands are what most often contaminate food. Wash your hands with soap and water in all of these situations:
- before you start work and when you return from a break
- after using the toilet
- after handling raw meat, raw fish, eggs, soil or unwashed vegetables
- after touching waste, cleaning or touching dirty surfaces
- after handling money or cards, before you touch unpackaged food
- after blowing your nose, coughing, smoking or using snus
- when you change from one task to another
There must be a hand basin with hot and cold water, soap and a hygienic way of drying hands, for example paper towels. The basin must be usable, so do not put dishes or food in it.
Gloves do not replace hand washing
Disposable gloves are a supplement to good hand hygiene, not a replacement. Gloves can give a false sense of security. People change them too rarely, and it is warm and damp inside them, which favours bacteria. So change gloves between every task, after raw food, after breaks and when they have torn. The gloves must be intended for contact with food.
Clothes, hair and jewellery
- Wear clean and suitable work clothes. When you handle unpackaged food, protective clothing is usually needed.
- Change in a place where the clothes will not get dirty. Keep work clothes separate from private clothes.
- Do not go outside in your protective clothing to smoke or sit on the ground and then go straight back into the kitchen.
- Keep your hair tied back or wear a hair covering. A hair is seldom a microbiological risk, but the food can become unappetising and be regarded as unfit.
- Jewellery and watches on hands and arms make it harder to wash clean and can end up in the food. Take them off when you handle unpackaged food. Loose earrings can also fall out.
- Smoking and using snus have no place where unpackaged food is handled.
Illness and wounds
As someone who works with food, you have a responsibility of your own. Under chapter VIII, point 2, a person who carries an infection that can be transmitted through food must not handle food or be where it is handled if there is a risk of spreading infection. You must tell your manager at once if you have symptoms, for example:
- diarrhoea or vomiting
- infected wounds or skin infections
Wounds must be covered so that nothing can get into the food. The business must have a procedure for how illness is reported and what happens next, for example that you are moved to other work that does not involve unpackaged food.
Stomach illness in the family can also be a risk. The Swedish Food Agency describes a large norovirus outbreak caused by a princess cake. It had been made by an employee who had children at home ill with norovirus. So also tell your manager if anyone in your household has a stomach bug.
The law gives no exact time for how long to stay at home. A common recommendation from the regions' infection control services and many municipalities is to wait 48 hours after the last symptom before handling unpackaged food. The business's own procedure applies.
Toilets and visitors
The staff toilet must not open directly into rooms where food is handled. The personal hygiene procedures apply to everyone who is in the kitchen, including tradespeople, drivers and visitors. The procedures do not have to be in writing, but everyone must know what applies.