Personal hygiene and handwashing
Food handlers' hands touch more food than any utensil in the kitchen. Most customer illness traced to staff comes down to two things: hands that were not washed at the right moments, and people working while infectious.
When to wash your hands — the moments that matter
- Before starting work and after every break
- After touching raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs or their packaging
- After using the toilet, blowing your nose, or touching your face or hair
- After handling waste, cleaning chemicals, deliveries or money
- Before handling ready-to-eat food
How to wash them properly
At the wash-hand basin (not the food sink): wet hands with warm water, soap, and rub for 20 seconds — backs of hands, between fingers, thumbs, nails. Rinse and dry with a disposable towel. Wet or half-washed hands transfer bacteria almost as well as unwashed ones. Gloves are not a substitute: they need changing at the same moments hands need washing.
Fitness for work — the 48-hour rule
If you have diarrhoea or vomiting, you must not work with food, and you must stay away until 48 hours after symptoms stop. Feeling better is not the test — you can still be shedding the bug. Tell your manager; a shift covered is cheaper than an outbreak. Infected cuts must be covered with a coloured (usually blue) waterproof plaster.
The basics that inspectors notice
- Clean apron/whites on at work, not worn on the way in
- Hair tied back or covered; no watches or stoned rings at prep
- No eating over food areas; taste with a clean spoon, once
- A stocked wash-hand basin — soap, warm water, towels — used only for hands
Check your understanding
You had a stomach bug and feel fine this morning. Can you work today?
Only if it is at least 48 hours since your last symptom. If not, tell your manager and stay off food handling.
You are wearing gloves and have just finished portioning raw chicken. What now?
Gloves off, wash hands properly, fresh gloves. Gloves carry bacteria exactly like skin does.
The wash-hand basin is full of a soaking pan. Why is that a problem?
If the basin is blocked, hands do not get washed at the moments that matter. It is for hands only — inspectors treat a blocked one as a sign handwashing is not really happening.
Doing this as part of your job?
If your workplace uses Localyn, ask your manager for your personal training link — completing modules through it records the training in the store's food safety evidence automatically. Managers: issue links from the Training page in your dashboard.
See it working before you sign up
Walk through a sample store with realistic demo data — no login required — or start a 1-month free trial and set up your first site with Localyn.