Food Poisoning Health Center

Need a Hand With That? Take Both, and Scrub Well

Vital Information:

• When the FDA reviewed 81 foodborne illness outbreaks since 1975, the agency found that food worker illness was a factor in almost all of the cases. In 35 of the outbreaks, hand contact was identified as a specific contributor.
• Food preparation specialists recently met to test and demonstrate effective methods of hand cleaning. Although clean hands are a special concern to these people, even they learned their methods can fall short of completely cleansed hands. Many are returning to their workplaces to implement more thorough handwashing procedures.
• In general, people should wash their hands before, during, and after handling food, as well as after using the bathroom or handling animals. It's also important to scrub for at least 20 seconds during each handwashing.