It is important to wash your hands often when you are preparing and cooking foods wherever you are working, be it in a commercial kitchen, at an off-site catering event or in your own residential kitchen. Regular hand washing is critically important to the prevention of cross-contamination and the spread of germs.
Do you have frequent turnover of labor in your foodservice operation? Print out this list and post it near food prep stations as well as close to your hand washing sinks.
Be sure to wash your hands at these times:
1. Before, during and after any food preparation
2. After you have handled any of these raw foods: meat, poultry, seafood and eggs
3. Before you eat anything!
4. Immediately after you have touched any garbage or trash
5. After you have wiped down any tables, counters or used any cleaning chemicals
6. Every time after you cough, sneeze, or blow your nose.
Proper hand sanitation is an easy to implement step can prevent the spread of germs or bacteria. Remember back to April of 2020 when everyone wanted to learn what could be done to reduce risk of the novel coronavirus? Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told PBS NewsHour the best way to protect yourself is simply to wash your hands as frequently as possible. He also said that he washes his hands at least 50 times a day. We can all follow his example.
