Personal Hygiene and Health Reporting
Personal hygiene covers what a food handler must do to their body and clothing, and when they must stay away from food. Examiners test handwashing detail, the symptoms you must report, and the conditions for returning to work.
Handwashing
Use a designated hand basin with running water, soap and single-use towels. Wet, soap, scrub palms, backs, between fingers and under nails for at least 20 seconds, rinse, dry, then use the towel to turn off the tap. Wash on entering the kitchen, before handling food, between raw and ready-to-eat tasks, after the toilet, after handling waste or raw meat, after touching face, hair, phone or money, and after cleaning. Alcohol gel is not a substitute.
Appearance and clothing
Short, clean, unpainted nails; no false nails, polish, rings, watches or dangling jewellery in food areas. Clean outer clothing and apron; hair fully restrained with net or cap. No eating, drinking, smoking, vaping or chewing gum while handling food. Cover cuts with a waterproof, brightly coloured dressing, and on hands a glove over it.
Health reporting
Tell your supervisor before starting work if you have vomiting, diarrhoea, jaundice, fever with sore throat, an infected skin lesion, or discharge from ear, eye or nose – and if a household contact has these. The supervisor notifies the Medical Officer of Health or Public Health Inspector. Typhoid and hepatitis A may require stool clearance before return. As a general rule, stay off food work until 48 hours after diarrhoea and vomiting stop.
Worked example. A cook develops diarrhoea at 6 a.m. and reports for work. Correct action: she reports to her supervisor, is excluded from food handling and referred to the health centre, where her stool may be tested. She returns only when symptoms have stopped for 48 hours and, where required, after a negative result. Reasoning: enteric pathogens are shed in stool, and handwashing is unreliable during diarrhoea.
Traps. Gloves do not replace handwashing. A person can be infectious with no symptoms. Washing "until they look clean" is not the 20-second standard.