What is what must food handlers do when handling ready-to-eat food?

When handling ready-to-eat (RTE) food, food handlers must adhere to strict guidelines to prevent contamination and ensure food safety. Here's a breakdown:

• Hand Hygiene: This is paramount. Food handlers must practice thorough and frequent handwashing using soap and water. This includes washing hands before starting work, after using the restroom, after handling raw foods, and after any activity that could contaminate hands. Hand sanitizers can supplement, but not replace, proper handwashing.

• Glove Use: In many jurisdictions, single-use gloves are required when handling RTE foods. Gloves must be changed frequently, especially after handling raw meat, poultry, or seafood. Even with gloves, proper handwashing is still crucial.

• Utensil Use: Whenever possible, use utensils like tongs, spatulas, deli papers, or serving spoons to handle RTE foods instead of direct hand contact. This minimizes the risk of transferring microorganisms from hands to the food.

• Avoiding Bare Hand Contact: Bare hand contact with RTE foods should be avoided unless specific protocols are in place that demonstrate the risk of contamination is adequately controlled and the food is being cooked to kill microorganisms (this is often only in specific settings with very tight controls, such as high-end restaurants, and often requires regulatory approval).

• Personal Hygiene: Food handlers must maintain a high level of personal%20hygiene, including keeping fingernails trimmed, clean, and free of nail polish or artificial nails (unless gloves are worn). They must also avoid wearing jewelry on hands and wrists that could harbor bacteria or fall into food.

• Illness: Food handlers experiencing symptoms of foodborne%20illness (diarrhea, vomiting, fever, sore throat with fever, jaundice) must be restricted from handling RTE foods until they are symptom-free and cleared by a medical professional or according to regulatory guidelines.

• Proper Storage: Once RTE food is prepared, it needs to be stored properly. This involves maintaining appropriate temperature%20control (keeping cold foods cold and hot foods hot) and preventing cross-contamination from raw foods.

• Training: Food handlers must receive adequate training on proper food handling techniques, including hand hygiene, glove use, and prevention of cross-contamination.