Restaurant Sanitation & Personal Hygiene

Restaurants are responsible for keeping their kitchens clean and sanitary. Letting sanitation and hygiene standards slide can lead to foodborne illness outbreaks. Restaurants that don't meet sanitation standards face fines and the prospect of being closed down.

Education

• Management must emphasize sanitary and hygienic practices during employee training and offer periodic refresher lessons to their staff. Hand washing deserves special emphasis, as a Kansas State University study found that restaurant workers often skipped hand washing, citing inconvenience and lack of time.

Staff Hygiene

• Employees with poor hygiene can spread germs and bacteria to their restaurant's patrons. Management must insist that staff bathe daily, keep their fingernails short and clean, and wear clean clothing to work. Managers should also ensure that employees always wash their hands after smoking or using the rest room.

Cleaning and Sanitizing

• Kitchen surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized, as a surface that appears spotless can still harbor germs. After cleaning kitchen surfaces and fixtures, wipe them down with a sanitizing solution. Always store cleaning cloths in sanitizing solutions when they're not in use.