Consider these Hygiene aspects to handle food in your business

You have a bright new idea of a swanky restaurant or eatery, and you decide to take the plunge into business. Raw materials check. Staff – Check. Location – Check. Advertisements – check. Hygiene precautions… missed?

Or, you want to start your own business of pickles. You don’t take into account the need for following hygiene practices like gloves, headgear etc….and it becomes difficult to implement when your business grows.

People heading eatery businesses often miss out on this very basic aspect of food handling – personal hygiene of the staff. By the time they realize the need for training employees for hygiene, it’s quite late. Instances – like a stray hair sticking out of the food, to some unwell cook spreading his illness to his customers as well – come up and threaten the credibility and image of your business.

So how can this be controlled?

The answer is, train the food handlers to maintain hygiene. Be it a restaurant or food processing companies, people often groan about wearing a head cap, or face mask. But, it is extremely important to implement, else the business would end up being a carrier for diseases!

Here we bring to you important aspects that need to be kept in mind for hygienic food handling in your businesses

‘Hairy’ Issues

Human hair is a physical and a bacterial contaminant that can get into food (e.g., hair in soup). Thus, headgear(like Hats and hairnets) and beard nets keep the hair off of your forehead and your face – the new haircut should not be visible to anyone inside the kitchen!)

Aprons and clean clothing

Imagine you need to wipe you wet hands, and you absentmindedly wipe it on your dress that has sort of become a hand towel for you. Not only is it gross, it compromises the hygiene. Dirty clothing should be changed immediately. Contrary to popular belief, light colored clothing while cooking or handling food is beneficial since it is easier to see the dirt.

Hands and Nails

Ladies! It is known that you’re tempted to keep your fingernails long and have them painted with nice colors. While men like to flaunt their fancy watches while at work.

Sorry, but it’s an absolute no-no in food business! Nail polishes contain substances that may get mixed with the food or make the nails chip and fall on the food. On the other hand, rings, bracelets and wrist watches can become a home to a variety of germs.

Sick leaves need to be used, not saved

Sick employees can be a major threat to the food they’re handling , even though they could be considering themselves brave enough to come for work despite their illness.

Before you enter food business – be it food processing or eatery – ensure that you have all these checks in place so that all your customers remain happy and safe.