Personal Hygiene and Health Reporting
This domain tests the behaviour expected of every food handler and the rules for reporting illness. Exam questions are often situational: you are given a symptom, a lesion, a holiday, or a return-to-work scenario, and asked what the handler should do. The examiner wants the exclusion decision and the reason, not just "tell your manager".
Hand hygiene
Wash hands with soap and warm running water for around 20 seconds, then dry thoroughly - ideally with disposable paper towels. Wash before starting work, after using the toilet, after handling raw food, after touching bins, after cleaning, after coughing or sneezing, after handling money, and after breaks. Hand sanitiser is not a substitute for washing when hands are visibly soiled or after toilet use. Keep nails short and unvarnished; no false nails or nail varnish.
Clothing and behaviour
Clean, light-coloured, washable overclothing; hair fully covered; no jewellery other than a plain wedding band, and no wristwatches or earrings. No eating, drinking, chewing gum, smoking or vaping in food areas. Cover cuts with a detectable blue waterproof plaster and, where appropriate, a glove. Do not wear strong perfume or aftershave, which can taint food.
Health reporting
Report to your manager before starting work if you have: diarrhoea, vomiting, or both; jaundice; a skin infection, boil, septic cut or infected wound; discharge from ear, eye or nose; a sore throat with fever; or if you have been in contact with someone with a food-borne illness. Also report recent foreign travel with illness. The manager decides exclusion, but you must disclose.
Exclusion and return to work
Standard UK guidance is to stay away from food handling until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea. For certain pathogens - E. coli O157, Salmonella, Shigella, Cryptosporidium, typhoid - exclusion is longer and depends on medical clearance and negative stool samples. Jaundice requires medical advice and usually exclusion until clearance.
Worked example
A chef develops diarrhoea on Monday morning. Reasoning: diarrhoea is a reportable symptom, so she must inform the manager before starting work and must not handle food. She should not return until 48 hours after the last episode, and should not return earlier because a colleague is off. If she also had bloody diarrhoea or recent foreign travel, medical clearance and stool testing may be required because of the E. coli O157 risk.
Traps that cost marks
- Saying 24 hours instead of 48 hours symptom-free.
- Allowing a food handler back early because they feel well.
- Believing a plaster alone is enough for a cut on the hand - it must be blue and detectable.
- Omitting the duty to report before starting work rather than after the shift.