COMPONENTS OF A GOOD PERSONAL HYGIENE PROGRAM

Good personal hygiene is key to the prevention of foodborne illness. Good Personal Hygiene
includes:
 Following hygienic hand practices
 Maintaining personal cleanliness
 Wearing clean and appropriate uniforms and following dress codes
 Avoiding certain habits and actions
 Maintaining good health
 Reporting illnesses

Hygienic Hand Practices

Handwashing- is the most critical aspect of personal hygiene.
Thorough handwashing only takes about 20 seconds.

Food handlers must wash their hands before they start work and after:

 Using the restroom

 Handling raw meat, poultry and seafood (before and after)
 Sneezing, coughing, or using a tissue
 Smoking, eating, drinking, or chewing gum or tobacco
 Handling chemicals that might affect the safety of food
 Taking out the garbage
 Clearing tables or busing dirty dishes
 Touching clothing or aprons
 Touching anything else that may contaminate hands, such as dirty equipment, work surfaces, or
wiping towels.
 Handling money

Proper handwashing:
1. Wet your hands and arms with running water as hot as you can comfortably stand (at least
100 F [38 C]).
2. Apply soap. Apply enough soap to build up a good lather.
3. Scrub hands and arms vigorously for 10 to 15 seconds. Lather well beyond the wrists,
including the exposed portions of the arms. Clean under fingernails and between fingers. A
nailbrush might be helpful.
4. Rinse hands and arms thoroughly under running water.
5. Dry hands and arms with a single-use paper towel or warm-air hand dry. When leaving the
restroom, consider using a paper towel to turn off the faucet and to open the door.
 Hand Antiseptics are liquids or gels that are used to lower the number of pathogens on skin. Once an
antiseptic is applied, food handlers should not touch food or equipment until the substance has dried.

Bare-Hand Contact with Ready-to-Eat Food

Proper handwashing minimizes the risk of contamination associated with bare-hand contact with
ready-to-eat food. If your jurisdiction allows bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food, your
establishment must have policies for employee health and train employees in handwashing and
personal hygiene practices.

Hand Maintenance
Hands need other regular care to ensure they will not contaminate food. To keep the food safe, make
sure food handlers follow these guidelines:

 Keep fingernails short and clean.

 Do not wear false fingernails.
 Do not wear nail polish.
 Wear a bandage over wounds on hands and arms and make sure it keeps the wound from
leaking.

Single-Use Gloves
Gloves can help keep food safe by creating a barrier between hands and food. When purchasing gloves
for handling food, managers should:

 Buy disposable gloves.

 Buy gloves for different task.
 Provide different glove sizes.
 Consider providing gloves made from latex alternatives.
 Focus on safety, durability, and cleanliness.

WHEN TO CHANGE YOUR GLOVES?

 As soon as they become soiled or torn

 Before beginning a different task
 At least every 4 hours during continual use, and more often when necessary
 After handling raw meat and before handling ready-to-eat food.
Other Good Personal Hygiene Practices

 General personal cleanliness – food handlers must maintain personal cleanliness.

 Proper work attire – it plays an important role in the preventing of foodborne illness.
 Food handlers should:
 Wear a clean hat or other hair restraint.
 Wear clean clothing daily.
 Remove aprons when leaving food-operation areas.
 Remove jewelry from hands and arms prior to preparing food and when working around
food-preparation areas.

Policies regarding eating, drinking, smoking, and chewing gum and tobacco
Small droplets of saliva can contain thousands of disease causing microorganisms. In the process of
eating, drinking, chewing gum or tobacco, or smoking, saliva can be transferred to a food handler’s
hands or directly to the food the person is handling. For this reason, food handlers must not do this
things while working in food-preparation areas or while working in areas used to clean utensils and
equipment.

Some jurisdictions allow employees to drink from covered container with a straw while in this areas.
Check with your local regulatory agency. Food handlers should do this things at the employees break
room. Employees should never be allowed to spit in the establishment.

If food must be tasted during preparation, it must be placed in a separate dish and tasted with a clean
utensil. The dish and utensil should then be removed from the food preparation area for cleaning and
sanitizing.