FOOD SAFETY
Safe food: the role of handwashing and hygiene Words by Deon Mahoney
S
trategies to minimise contamination of our food supply by microbial hazards focus primarily on controlling raw materials and inputs, decontamination procedures, the application of kill steps and packaging. While these interventions represent the main ways of reducing the risk of foodborne illness for consumers, the importance of hygienic food handling practices and worker health and hygiene are often neglected. Fortunately, the importance of effective handwashing has gained prominence with public health authorities in recent times, and no more so than during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is therefore timely to
26 food australia
address worker hygiene practices and their role in advancing food safety.
Food handlers as sources of contamination Humans are acknowledged as carriers of a wide range of microorganisms, both on the skin, in the nasal passages and in their intestinal tract. Many of these organisms are commensals, with little or no impact on the host. However, students of food microbiology are well versed in the risks presented by human carriers of an array of pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, enteric pathogens such as non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp., Clostridium perfringens,
enteric viruses, and parasites which can be transmitted to food and infect consumers. In addition to facilitating the spread of gastroenteritis, poor hygiene can result in the spread of respiratory illnesses. While humans are capable of spreading a wide range of illnesses, there is only limited information available on the efficacy of handwashing to remove or eliminate pathogens.
The case of Typhoid Mary Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who was a chronic, asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella Typhi. Mallon lived in New York and worked as a cook and laundress for wealthy
