Page 27 - Comprehensive Food Safety

31.03.2020

PERSONAL HYGIENE

Food can become unsafe and unsuitable if contaminated by dirty or inappropriate clothing or
food handlers behaving inappropriately.

Wear clean clothing

• Clean clothing (eg apron, hat etc) must be worn before handling food or entering food
preparation areas (this applies to contractors and visitors too).
• You must make sure that staff either wear their own clean clothing, or you must provide
clean clothing for staff.

• Outer protective clothes (eg aprons etc) must be removed when a food handler leaves
the food preparation area (eg to go to the toilet, lunch, outside etc).
• Hair should brushed, covered and/or tied back to prevent it stray hair from falling into
food.

Personal conduct

• Food handlers must not touch nose, mouth, hair or skin during food preparation. If they
do, they must wash their hands before handling food again or touching food contact
surfaces.
• Food handlers must not spit, sneeze or cough over food.

• Disposable tissues should be used to blow nose; hands must be washed afterwards.
• Smoking is not permitted in the food preparation area.
• Food handlers must not eat when handling food in food preparation areas.

Cuts and sores

• All cuts and sores on hands and arms must be covered with a sticking plaster to stop
bugs from the wound contaminating food.

• Brightly coloured waterproof sticking plasters should be used that can be seen easily if
they fall off. If sticking plasters are on the hand, a disposable glove should be worn to
keep them covered.
• If a cut or sore is weeping or infected and cannot be totally covered, the person must
not handle food.

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