Food handlers can contaminate food when they: Sneeze or cough. Have contact with a person who is sick. Touch anything that may contaminate their hands and do not wash them. Have symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or jaundice—a yellowing of the eyes or skin.
What behaviors can contaminate food?
- Having a foodborne illness.
- Having wounds that contain a pathogen.
- Having contact with a person who is ill.
- Touching the hair, face, or body and then not washing their hands.
- Touching anything that may contaminate their hands and not washing them.
How can a food handler identify food that has been contaminated?
How do food handlers know the food is safe to serve? Unfortunately, there is no quick way to determine if a food is contaminated with illness-causing bacteria; it won't look, taste, or smell any differently.
How can food handlers avoid behaviors that can contaminate food?
Creating personal hygiene policies. Training food handlers on personal hygiene policies and retraining them regularly. Modeling correct behavior at all times. Supervising food safety practices.
How can a food handler contaminate the food during the food preparation stages of food handling?
- If contaminated water or ice is used to wash, pack, or chill fruits or vegetables, the contamination can spread to those items.
- During the slaughter process, germs on an animal's hide that came from the intestines can get into the final meat product.
What is one way food handlers contaminate food?
Food and kitchen tools and surfaces may become contaminated from raw food products (i.e., meat and poultry). Microbes can be transferred from one food to another by using the same knife, cutting board or other utensil without washing the surface or utensil in between uses.