Personal Hygiene and Employee Health
Domain 2 tests handwashing, barriers, glove use, and the employee-health reporting rules that keep pathogens out of food. Questions often present a worker with a symptom or a task change and ask what the manager must do.
Handwashing
- Wash for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm running water.
- Wash before starting work, after using the restroom, after touching the face or hair, after handling raw meat, after cleaning, after coughing or sneezing, and after taking out trash.
- Hand antiseptics are not a substitute for handwashing.
Barriers and gloves
- No bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods; use gloves, tongs, deli paper, or utensils.
- Wash hands before putting on gloves, change gloves when torn or soiled, and never wash or reuse gloves.
- Gloves are a barrier, not a replacement for handwashing.
Employee health
- Employees must report diarrhea, vomiting, jaundice, sore throat with fever, infected wounds, and exposure to reportable illness.
- Exclude workers with vomiting or diarrhea from food handling; follow local rules for return, commonly 24 hours symptom-free or medical clearance.
- Workers diagnosed with Salmonella Typhi, Shigella, STEC, hepatitis A, or norovirus require exclusion and clearance.
Worked example
A line cook reports diarrhea at the start of a shift. The manager must exclude the cook from food handling and report the illness; sending the cook to the restroom and back is not enough. The cook returns only when symptom-free for the required period or cleared by a health professional.
Traps
Gloves create false confidence. A worker with a cold needs restriction only if symptoms meet reporting criteria. Do not let a hand antiseptic replace a failed handwash.