Hand washing is an issue that is important to me. I believe hand washing is something all people should do, whether you are a food service worker or not. A little soap and water goes a very long way in preventing illness and contamination of food, friends and yourself. But when it comes to people who work with our food, hand washing isn’t a safety option, it is a safety imperative. The signs are everywhere and the rules are clear “Employees Must Wash Hands before Returning to Work”
Recently, a McDonalds in Illinois was ground zero for a Hepatitis A outbreak due to two contaminated employees that exposed thousands to the nasty virus. About two dozen people have come down with the disease and thousands have received immune globulin shots to prevent the disease from taking a foothold. It is a little gross to have to think about it, but Hepatitis A is found in feces and that is where it gets transferred. When an infected employee doesn’t wash up after using the bathroom facility, the unhygienic practice now becomes a public health threat.
When such serious health and hygiene issues are at stake and such stringent rules and laws are in place, lax hand washing must become an issue in the rarest circumstances, right? Not according to William Burkhardt, a virologist and microbiologist with the FDA. Burkhardt was one of the co-authors of a study investigating hand washing practices at fast food restaurants. Burkhardt and his colleagues discovered that over half of the fast food employees surveyed failed to properly sanitize their hands or use proper rubber glove protection. These unsafe practices aren’t typically an issue until it is too late but waiting for an epidemic to occur before addressing the issue is just a foolish business practice.
I hope that fast food establishments can learn a lesson from the McDonalds Hepatitis A outbreak. Fortunately, for most people, Hepatitis A isn’t life threatening and typically goes away with time and treatment. But that isn’t always the case. E. coli and Salmonella can also be transferred through unsanitary hands as well as a host of other foodborne illnesses. Many of these illnesses aren’t always so benign. E. coli O157:H7 is the leading cause of the vicious blood disease hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Salmonella can cause severe illness that can require hospitalization not to mention it too can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) as well as Reiter’s syndrome, a painful autoimmune disease that attacks joints and skin. Listeria can cause listeriosis, a bacterial disease that is fatal for 20% of the people who contract it.
It can be hard for management to always monitor the habits of their employees, but it is not impossible. Open sinks placed outside work areas can be a good way for managers to visually confirm that employees wash their hands before returning to work stations. Rubber gloves can be purchased and made available for little added expense. Owners and managers can offer more safety training than a “food safety” video tape viewed in a back storage room. Simply put, when the minimal expense of sanitation safety is considered against the potential life threatening illnesses and greater expenses of fines, medical bills and lawsuits, the hand washing issue becomes a no brainer.
