ISO 22000: Personnel Hygiene - II

Personnel Hygiene & Food safety

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. Considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. When considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.

Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries the main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item. In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable. The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are,

1. Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests;
2. Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods;
3. Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill pathogens;
4. Store food at the proper temperature;
5. Do use safe water and cooked materials;

Accordingly Codex Alimentarius Commission has developed general principles of food hygiene standard where they have included following context to manage the personnel hygiene in food manufacturing plants to support the food safety. There are various other sectors which have focus on the document, but personnel hygiene plays a critical role in achieving food safety where those requirements are considered in the following way.

  

Objectives:

To ensure that those who come directly or indirectly into contact with food are not likely to contaminate food by:
Maintaining an appropriate degree of personal cleanliness;
Behaving and operating in an appropriate manner.

Rationale:
People who do not maintain an appropriate degree of personal cleanliness,
Who have certain illnesses or conditions or who behave inappropriately can
Contaminate food and transmit illness to consumers.

Health Status

People known, or suspected, to be suffering from, or to be a carrier of, a disease or illness likely to be transmitted through food should not be allowed to enter any food handling area if there is a likelihood of their contaminating food. Any person so affected should immediately report illness or symptoms of illness to the management. Medical examination of a food handler should be carried out if clinically or epidemiologically indicated.

Illness and Injuries

Conditions that should be reported to management; where any need for medical examination and/or possible exclusion from food handling can be considered include:

 jaundice;

diarrhoea;

vomiting;
fever;

sore throat with fever;

visibly infected skin lesions (boils, cuts, etc.);

discharges from the ear, eye or nose.

Personal Cleanliness

Food handlers should maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and, where appropriate, wear suitable protective clothing, head covering and footwear. Cuts and wounds, where personnel are permitted to continue working, should be covered by suitable waterproof dressings.

Personnel should always wash their hands when personal cleanliness may affect food safety, for example:

at the start of food handling activities;

immediately after using the toilet; and after handling raw food or any contaminated material where this could result in contamination of other food items; they should avoid handling ready-to-eat food, where appropriate.

Personal Behaviour

People engaged in food handling activities should refrain from behaviour that could result in contamination of food, for example:

smoking;

spitting; 

chewing or eating;

sneezing or coughing over unprotected food.

Personal effects such as jewellery, watches, pins or other items should not be worn or brought into food handling areas if they pose a threat to the safety and suitability of food.

Visitors

Visitors to food manufacturing, processing or handling areas should, where appropriate, wear protective clothing and adhere to the other personal hygiene provisions in this section.

Hygiene and Personnel Practices

Regardless of type of processing or food handling operation, the number one consideration in food sanitation is people. It is people who set the rules, follow the rules, and also break the rules of sanitation. A sanitation program is as good as the attitude, willingness, and efforts of people. That is why the most important aspect of a sanitation program is ongoing personnel training.

It is essential that the full meaning of sanitation and its wide economic scope be accepted by everyone concerned in the food system-including management. Personnel training should include appropriate sanitation principles and food handling practices, manufacturing controls, and personal hygiene practices.

Sanitation Principles and Food Handling Practices

Personnel training should instill and nurture an understanding of the processing steps and technologies for each product manufactured or handled and where potential problems exist, and create a keen desire to satisfy and guard the consumers' interests.

Manufacturing Controls and Essential Operations

Production personnel must be trained in the critical elements of the operations for which they are responsible, in the importance of these operations, monitoring these operations, and in action to be taken when these operations are not controlled. The cross contaminations are mostly possible with operators where personnel hygiene trainings must focus on educating them to prevent such issues at the operational levels. Certain industries have developed certification programs for operators of essential heat-processing equipment (e.g. milk pasteurizer or retort operators). If such programs don't exist for a given processing segment, it is important that specific training programs be developed for such personnel.

Hygienic Practices

Communicable Diseases/Injuries

Persons known to be suffering from, or known to be carriers of a disease likely to be transmitted through food, must be restricted from any food-handling area. Likewise, persons afflicted with infected wounds, skin infections, sores, etc., must also be restricted from these areas. Any persons with open cuts or wounds should not handle food unless the injury is completely protected by a secure, waterproof covering.

Hand Washing

Facilities with hot water for hand-washing must be provided and must be convenient to

food handling areas. All personnel involved in food handling must thoroughly wash hands with soap under warm-running, potable water. Hands must also be washed after handling contaminated materials and after using toilet facilities. Where required, employees must use disinfectant hand dips.

Personal Cleanliness and Conduct

Personal cleanliness must be maintained while involved in food handling operations:

Sanitary protective clothing, hair covering, and footwear must be worn and maintained in a clean, sanitary manner.

Gloves, if worn, must be clean and sanitary.

All food-handling personnel must remove objects (i.e. watches, jewelry) from their person which may fall into or contaminate the food product.

Tobacco, gum, and food are not permitted in food-handling areas.

Traffic Control/Controlled Access

Personnel and visitor access to specific food- product handling areas must be restricted. Personnel involved in raw product handling (e.g., farm truck drivers, etc.) must not be allowed in processing or finished product areas. Foot baths and hand dips, where required, must be properly maintained and used. Color coding of clothing, maintenance and other equipment should be used to clearly identify raw vs. processed product operations.