Food handlers can carry harmful bacteria on their hands, skin, hair and clothing, and in their nose and mouth. Good personal hygiene stops these bacteria from reaching food.

This module explains how and when to wash your hands, what to wear in production areas, how to use gloves, and what to do when you are ill or injured.

Personal hygiene is a control that every single person on site is responsible for, every shift. This module covers:

• Why personal hygiene matters.
• When to wash your hands, and how.
• Protective clothing.
• Jewellery, perfume and personal habits.
• Gloves.
• Reporting illness.
• Cuts and wounds.

Even healthy people carry bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, in their nose, mouth and on their skin. Hands pick up bacteria from everything they touch, including raw materials, door handles, phones and waste.

In a factory, one person’s poor hygiene can contaminate a whole production run. Viruses such as norovirus can spread rapidly through a workforce, and into products.

Good personal hygiene is one of the simplest and most effective food safety controls.

Wash your hands thoroughly:

• Before starting work, and when entering a production area.
• Before handling food, and between tasks.
• After handling raw food or raw materials.
• After using the toilet.
• After touching bins, waste, cleaning materials, or your face or hair.
• After coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose.
• After eating, drinking or smoking.
• After handling deliveries or outer packaging.

• Wet your hands with warm running water.
• Apply liquid soap, and work up a good lather.
• Rub every surface: palms, backs of the hands, between the fingers, thumbs, fingertips and nails.
• Keep going for at least 20 seconds.
• Rinse thoroughly under running water.
• Dry your hands with a disposable paper towel or a hand dryer.

Always use a basin provided only for hand washing, never a sink used for food or equipment. Use hand sanitiser afterwards if your site requires it, but never instead of washing.

Clean protective clothing protects food from contamination. You should:

• Put on clean protective clothing in the changing room, and wear it only on site.
• Wear the correct colour or type for your production zone.
• Cover all your hair with a hairnet or hat, and wear a beard snood if needed.
• Fasten your coat fully, and keep pockets empty.
• Change your clothing if it becomes dirty or damaged.
• Take it off before going to the toilet, the canteen or outside.

• Do not wear jewellery or watches in production areas. Your site may allow a plain wedding band.
• Keep your nails short and clean, with no nail varnish or false nails.
• Do not wear strong perfume or aftershave, which can taint food.
• Never smoke, vape, eat, drink or chew gum in production areas.
• Do not touch your face, nose or hair while handling food.
• Keep personal items, such as phones, in your locker.

Disposable gloves can help to protect food, but they are not a substitute for hand washing. Bacteria multiply on gloves just as they do on hands, and gloves pick up contamination from everything they touch.

Wash your hands before putting gloves on. Change gloves regularly, between tasks, when moving between raw and ready-to-eat work, and whenever they are damaged or dirty.

Use the gloves your site provides, which are often blue and detectable.

Illness can be passed to food. Before starting work, you must report to your supervisor if you have:

• Diarrhoea or vomiting.
• A skin infection, infected wound or sores.
• Discharge from the eyes, ears or nose.
• Any other illness that could be passed on through food.

Anyone who has had diarrhoea or vomiting must stay away from food work until they have been free of symptoms for 48 hours.

Cuts, grazes, spots and sores can carry harmful bacteria.

Cover them with a blue, waterproof, metal-detectable dressing. The blue colour makes it easy to see if it falls into food, and the metal strip allows it to be found by a metal detector.

If the wound is on your hand, wear a disposable glove over the dressing. Report any wound that becomes infected to your supervisor.

To protect food, you should:

• Wash your hands thoroughly and often.
• Wear clean protective clothing, and cover your hair.
• Avoid jewellery, nail varnish and strong scents.
• Cover cuts with blue, detectable dressings.
• Use gloves correctly, and never instead of hand washing.
• Report illness, and stay away for 48 hours after diarrhoea or vomiting.
• Never smoke, eat or chew gum in production areas.