Dressing as food work requires

Outcome. FI: Henkilö osaa pukeutua elintarviketyön edellyttämällä tavalla. EN: The person can dress as food work requires.

Why it matters

Your clothes carry dirt and microbes from outside into the kitchen. Work clothing protects the food from you.

What to know

Every person working in a food-handling area must maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and wear suitable, clean and, where necessary, protective clothing. The purpose is to prevent contamination of the food. The operator is responsible for seeing that all staff wear appropriate, clean work clothes, and they are changed often enough.

• Protective clothing usually means a work suit, head covering and footwear. An apron, coat or shoe covers, which may be disposable, can be worn over work clothing. A head covering keeps hair and particles out of food. In approved premises such as slaughterhouses and dairies workers need head covering, work suit and footwear, and possibly protective gloves.
• Work clothes are easy to keep clean and durable. A reasonable amount of company logos is allowed if dirt still shows. In very small operations staff may wash work clothes at home; in larger premises central laundering by the employer is recommended.
• If going outdoors could pose a hygiene risk, work clothes are changed or covered. Protective clothing for minced meat is worn only in the food premises.
• Smoking in a food premises is allowed only in a separate room designated for it. After smoking wash hands carefully, and change or protect clothing if smoking or going outside may risk food hygiene.
• The operator makes its own rules that ban or protect jewellery and piercings of staff who handle unpackaged food. Moisture and dirt collect under rings, and jewellery can fall into food. Piercings break the skin and mucous membranes, which carry many microbes. A plaster or tape used to protect them must not come off into food. Rings, jewellery and watches come off before hand washing.
• Persons other than staff should not enter food-handling areas; visitors' clothing cleanliness is considered, and repairs are done when no food is handled.

Scenario

Sara arrives by bus in her own jacket and starts cutting rolls. Her jacket brings street dust into the production area. She should change into clean work clothes and shoes, put on a head covering and keep her jacket in a locker.

Remember

Item	Rule
Work clothing	suitable, clean, protective where needed
Typical protective clothing	work suit, head covering, footwear
Smoking	separate room only; wash hands afterwards
Jewellery, watches	off before hand washing

Myth vs reality

• Myth: Own everyday clothes are fine in the kitchen. Reality: Clean work clothing is required.
• Myth: Company logos on work clothes are prohibited. Reality: A reasonable amount is allowed.
• Myth: Washing work clothes at home is banned everywhere. Reality: It is possible in very small operations.

In the test

"Operator's own rules" applies to jewellery and piercings: the operator's rules decide.

Outcome. FI: Henkilö osaa huolehtia henkilökohtaisesta hygieniasta niin, että elintarvikkeet ja niiden kanssa kosketuksissa olevat pinnat eivät saastu. EN: The person can take care of personal hygiene so that food and the surfaces in contact with it are not contaminated.

Why it matters

Careful and regular hand washing is the most important prerequisite for hygienic handling of unprotected food, besides clean protective clothing. Good hand hygiene prevents food poisoning.

What to know

Hand washing. Wash hands before starting work, between work stages (after raw materials and soil-covered, dirty or spoiled foods), after the toilet, after smoking and after coughing, sneezing or blowing the nose, and always after raw food before cooked food. Use warm water and liquid soap and dry carefully; cold water without soap is not enough. Skin always has microbes, so healthy skin needs washing too. A hand-washing point has running water of suitable temperature, liquid soap, disposable towels or a cloth-towel dispenser, and a waste bin. Hand basins have hot and cold running water. Close the tap with a paper towel or touch-free. Hand hygiene also stops infectious diseases and pinworm from reaching food.

Gloves. Disposable gloves are not required generally, only in particular steps, for example over a plaster-covered wound, or over cut-resistant gloves when handling meat. Their primary purpose is to protect food from dirt and microbes spread by hands. Put them on only clean, washed hands. Change them after touching dirty surfaces, dirty tools, money or other sources of contamination. Do not wash and reuse them. Wash hands regularly even when wearing gloves. Cash-register work and handling unpackaged food fit poorly together.

Wounds. Wounds and skin infections on hands are covered with a clean waterproof plaster and a disposable glove, which stops bacteria from the wound reaching the food. Staphylococcus aureus is common on skin and in wounds and can produce enterotoxin in food. People handling unpackaged food must not have skin infections or injuries on the hands, or these must be protected.

Nails and habits. Artificial nails do not suit food work, and gloves go on hands without them. Short, clean nails spread fewer microbes. Avoid touching hair, nose and face and coughing over food; hair is covered. Taste with a clean spoon, not fingers. Staff's own food is stored in staff rooms, or on a clearly separate shelf in small premises.

Scenario

Mikko works the till and also packs bread with the same gloves. Coin microbes go to the bread. He must change gloves after money, or better, separate the tasks.

Remember

Situation	Action
Wash hands	before work, between stages, after toilet, smoking, coughing, sneezing, nose
How	warm water, liquid soap, dry carefully
Gloves	on clean washed hands; change after dirt, tools, money
Hand wound	waterproof plaster and disposable glove

Myth vs reality

• Myth: Gloves make washing unnecessary. Reality: Wash hands regularly despite gloves.
• Myth: Gloves are required in all food handling. Reality: Only in particular steps.
• Myth: A plaster alone is enough for a hand wound. Reality: Add a disposable glove.

In the test

Wash before, between and after; change gloves after money. "Gloves make washing unnecessary" is always false.