BROWSE ALL ARTICLES BY TOPIC Getting a Handle on Food Safety and
Hand Hygiene Reinforcing the Importance of Product Selection by
Dan Mcelroy Your employees’ hands are a critical control point
worth your attention. If employees are not washing their hands,
it’s possible the food you are manufacturing isn’t safe or will
suffer compromised shelf life. Neither are the goals of a
quality manufacturer. Many cases of foodborne illness are
unreported, and it is estimated that every year nearly 76
million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in
food. More than 5,000 cases are fatal.1 With that said,
effective food safety programs are the primary goal of the
modern food processor and their quality assurance departments.
Opportunities for cross-contamination are everywhere employees
are located, and include natural human behaviors such as
scratching and adjusting glasses or a hairnet. If employees are
not taught proper hand hygiene, foodborne pathogens could be
transferred to the food by hand contact. U