Regulations for Food Handlers

If you enjoyed your savory stir-fry or juicy burger without encountering a piece of hair or without contracting food poisoning, thank your local health department. The health department enforces state regulations for food preparation, which includes rules for food handlers. These rules and regulations prevent food handlers from inadvertently making you ill through cross-contamination or from poor hygiene.

Hair Restraints

• Some states require chefs as well as prep cooks to restrain their hair. This prevents errant hairs from landing in your food, which can cause food-borne illness. Hair may contain bacteria as well as chemicals from hair products. As a result, many states or individual restaurants require that workers who prepare food keep their hair and long facial hair, if applicable, restrained by rubber bands or hair nets. The rubber band or hair net catches the hair as the worker naturally sheds it, which prevents it from landing in your food.

Hand-Washing

• Most states or restaurants require workers to wash their hands after they use the restroom, eat, smoke or handle raw foods. Hand washing for 20 seconds using hot water and soap can eliminate most bacteria, viruses or chemicals from the worker's hands. This in turn prevents them from transferring the bacteria to your food. Some states or establishments go one step further and require food service workers to wear gloves when they prepare foods. Gloves do not help prevent cross-contamination if a worker wears them throughout the say as he prepares several different raw foods, however.

Cover Cuts and Wounds

• State or company regulations also require that food service workers cover wounds such as cuts, sores or burns. This prevents blood or bacteria from the wound from contaminating your food. Some establishments provide brightly-colored bandages to the workers to prevent a lost bandage from being served with a customer's food. As an additional precaution for hand wounds, food service workers should wear gloves over the hand with the bandage to prevent bacteria from the wound from leaking out under the bandage and into the food.

Illness

• Most health departments do not require that food service workers avoid work when they are ill, but individual restaurants may require it. Bacteria and viruses from your hands and even the air can contaminate food if you sneeze, cough or blow your nose into a tissue. Even if you scrupulously wash your hands with soap and hot water each time, you may not eliminate all bacteria or viruses, which can put the diner at risk of catching your illness.