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Overview of Microbiology
To understand how employee health and hygiene can contribute to food contamination you need to know some basic
microbiology.
Microbiology is a broad term that covers the study of
organisms that you cant see without a microscope. For our
purposes in this course, microorganism means bacteria,
yeast, mold, viruses and some parasites.
Foodborne illness takes quite a toll. More than 200 known
diseases can be transmitted by food. In the United States,
foodborne diseases have been estimated to cause 76 million
illnesses and up to 5,000 deaths each year.
The primary microorganisms that cause foodborne illness
are bacteria, viruses, and parasites. The symptoms of foodborne illness range from nausea, headaches and cramps to
more severe complications that can lead to death.
Common Mistakes That Cause Illness: Studies have shown that the two most common
causes of foodborne illness in the U.S. are:
1. holding food at the wrong temperature,
2. and poor personal hygiene of food workers
Food workers typically transmit disease causing organisms to food from their hands by:
touching contaminated surfaces and then touching food.
touching contaminated food and then touching other food.
touching a portion of their own body and then touching food.
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Types of Microorganisms
Molds: While some molds are used in food processing to manufacture food products like
specialty cheeses they can also be involved in food spoilage and even produce a toxin
called mycotoxin that is a poisonous substance that can have serious health consequences.
Yeasts: Yeasts can also cause food spoilage problems in foods such as fruit juices, meats,
and wine but fortunately they are not associated with foodborne illness.
Bacteria: Bacteria can be divided into two groups, the spore formers and the non-spore
formers. In general the spore forming bacteria are extremely resistant to heat, cold and
chemical agents. But what is most important about bacteria is that some of them can
cause foodborne illness. These types of bacteria are called pathogens which means
disease-causing. With pathogens there is typically no obvious visual signs or odors that
would indicate the food was unsafe or bad. That is what makes them even more dangerous.
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GMP TV
The photos in the GMP TV below show how bacteria, viruses or other disease causing
organisms from various sources can contaminate food in the plant. Click on each photo to
learn more.
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Employee Health
GMP Requirement: Disease Control - Any person who is shown to have or appears to have an illness, open lesion, including boils, sores or infected wounds or any
other abnormal source of microbial contamination by which there is a reasonable
possibility of food, food contact surfaces or food packaging materials becoming contaminated shall be excluded from any operations which may be expected to result in
contamination until the condition is corrected. Personnel shall be instructed to report such health conditions to their supervisors.
This GMP requirement contains a lot of words, but simply put it means employees must
not work with food if they are sick or have open sores.
Do Not Work With Food When You Are Sick: Employees
must not work with food if they are sick with an illness that
could be transmitted to food. In a review of 81 foodborne
illness outbreaks that infected almost 15,000 people in the
U.S. from 1975 to 1998, 93% of these outbreaks involved
food workers who were ill either prior to or at the time of the
outbreak.
Symptoms To Report: Employees need to know that the
illness they have could be transferred to others by handling
food that someone else will eat. Some of the more common
symptoms that must be reported to the supervisor are:
Diarrhea Vomiting
Fever
Dark urine
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How To Monitor
Supervisors should monitor employee health conditions daily. Although the current GMP
does not require monitoring records, you may want to keep a record of the results of your
observations for your own use. If any actions are necessary to correct problems, these
actions should also be noted on a written record. Records should also be kept to demonstrate that all employees have been properly trained.
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Employee Hygiene
The next part of the GMP regulation describes the hygienic practices that food workers
must follow to protect the food they are handling from contamination.
GMP Requirement: Cleanliness. All persons working in direct contact with food,
food-contact surfaces, and food-packaging materials shall conform to hygienic
practices while on duty to the extent necessary to protect against contamination of food.
As you can see, this GMP requirement states that food, food contact surfaces, and food
packaging material must be protected from contamination by workers. It then goes on to
outline nine specific hygienic requirements for food workers.
Hygiene Requirements for Food Workers
1. Wearing suitable garments.
2. Maintaining adequate personal cleanliness.
3. Protecting food from jewelry or foreign objects.
4. Wearing proper hair covering or restraints.
5. Proper storage of clothing and personal items.
6. Confining eating, drinking, and smoking to appropriate areas.
7. Preventing contamination from perspiration, cosmetics, tobacco, and chemicals or
medicine applied to the skin.
8. Washing hands properly at the proper times.
9. Sanitizing hands and using gloves appropriately.
We will review each of these requirements starting with employee garments.
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Outer Garments
GMP Requirement: All persons shall wear outer garments suitable to the operation in a manner that protects against the contamination of food, food-contact surfaces or
food-packaging materials.
Bacterial pathogens and viruses exist everywhere in our environment. This includes your
street clothes, shoes, and hands. So it makes sense that you would not want to wear
these clothes or shoes into processing areas where you might contaminate the food you
are handling. It may be necessary to change clothes or put on protective outer garments
such as aprons, coats, uniforms, smocks, or boots to prevent food contamination.
GMP TV: Click on the pictures in the GMP TV below for some examples of how some food
processors have or have not complied with this part of the GMP regulation:
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Personal Cleanliness
GMP Requirement: Workers shall maintain adequate personal cleanliness.
The human body itself can be a source of microbial contamination if it is not kept clean.
People who do not bathe can smell bad. This is because body odor is often caused by bacterial growth.
Skin Can Harbor Bacteria: The average adult has a skin area of about 19 to 20 square
feet. From healthy skin, approximately 10 million particles are released into the air each
day, and 10% of these skin particles contain living bacteria. The chemical composition
and moisture of skin varies and dictates what type of bacteria will grow on it and how
much.
The surface of skin (epidermis) is not a favorable place for microbial growth because it is
often dry, salty, and acidic. Most microorganisms are located in sweat glands and hair follicles because of the moist and nutritious environment in those places.
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Hair Restraint
GMP Requirement: Wear hair nets, headbands, caps, beard covering or other effective hair restraints when appropriate and in an effective manner.
Hair and Hair Covering: To comply with this portion of the GMP, employees working in food processing areas must wear hair covering or
restraints. This is because hair is filthy and can contribute to contamination as well as the fact that no one wants your hair in their food! The
type of hair covering that you would need to comply with this portion of
the regulation can vary depending on where you are working.
Examples: Employees in loading docks or warehouses where there is
no exposed food may not need hair coverings. Typically these workers
wear baseball-type caps which is fine, but they should not be the same
ones that are worn at home. In contrast, workers in areas where food
is exposed must wear hair coverings that completely cover their hair,
including beards and moustaches.
GMP TV: Click on the photos in the GMP TV below to see both acceptable and unacceptable hair covering practices.
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Personal Belongings
GMP Requirement: Clothing or other personal belongings should not be kept in
areas where food is exposed or where equipment or utensils are washed.
So far in our discussion of hygienic practices we have covered outer garments, personal
cleanliness, jewelry, and hair coverings. The next three topics under hygienic practices
deal with what you do with your clothing, personal items, where you eat, smoke and drink
and finally what you wear on your skin - all of which can contribute to food contamination
if they are not managed properly.
Clothing and Personal Items: Coats, shoes, and other clothing or personal items should
never be stored in areas where food is being processed or stored. This is because your
personal items cannot be cleaned and sanitized and could potentially contaminate food,
food contact surfaces, or food packaging material. Ideally your personal items will be
stored in a locker room or at least an area that is dedicated to storing your items and is
separate from food processing areas.
GMP TV: Click on the photos in the GMP TV below to see examples of items that should
not be in areas where exposed food is handled or stored.
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How To Monitor
Supervisors should observe all employees at the beginning of the shift and periodically throughout the day as necessary to make sure that they are:
clean, and practicing good hygiene,
wearing appropriate outer garments,
not wearing jewelry or other prohibited items,
wearing appropriate hair and beard restraints,
have not brought personal items into work areas,
not smoking, eating, or drinking in work areas, and
not using personal care products that could contaminate food.
If problems are observed, employees should be required to correct their attire or behavior
before they start to work. Supervisors should be trained to make sure that they understand what is acceptable and how to work with employees to correct problems.
It may be useful to develop a simple check list that covers all of the personal hygiene requirements that should be monitored on a daily basis. Although the current GMP does not
require monitoring records, you may want to keep a record of the results of your observations for your own use. Records should also be kept of employee training for both supervisors and for other employees to demonstrate that have been informed about company
policies and understand them.
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Hand Washing Behavior: Many different studies have shown that when it comes to
washing hands, what people say they do can be very different from their actual behavior.
In one study of hand washing behavior done for the American Society for Microbiology,
more than 9 in 10 people said that they wash their hands after using a public restroom,
but only two thirds of them actually did wash their hands after using the bathroom. The
study also found that women were more likely to wash their hands after using the toilet
facility than men.
High Risk Behavior: These findings are especially important if food workers behave like
the rest of the general public. If a food worker does not wash their hands after using the
bathroom or after they touch something that is dirty and then touch food, they increase
the risk of contaminating the food and even causing the person who eats the food to get
sick.
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How To Monitor
Supervisors should monitor employee hand washing practices daily to ensure that expected practices are followed. Hand wash facilities should also be monitored daily to be
sure that they are operating properly and have the proper supplies including soap, disposable towels, and other items that are needed. Although the current GMP does not require
monitoring records, you may want to keep a record of the results of your observations for
your own use. If any actions are necessary to correct problems, these actions should also
be noted on a written record. Records should also be kept to demonstrate that all employees have been properly trained.
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Using Gloves
GMP Requirement: Maintain gloves, if they are used in food handling, in an intact, clean
and sanitary condition. Gloves should be of an impermeable material.
Follow Local Regulations: For some tasks, such as the handling
of foods that will not be cooked before they are eaten, workers
may need to wear gloves to protect food from contamination. In
fact, some states and many local regulatory agencies do not allow any direct hand contact with food. These authorities believe
that wearing gloves provides an extra barrier to protect food from
potential fecal contamination from workers who have not properly
washed their hands. But remember, even if you wear gloves
you will still need to wash your hands before putting on
your gloves! If you dont, you will contaminate the gloves.
Gloves and Hand Washing: Workers who wear gloves must
still wash their hands properly at the proper time and place as we
discussed earlier. Gloves can be as easily contaminated as bare
hands, and workers should follow the procedures described earlier
in when to wash. Workers should change their gloves after all of
the activities described earlier for hand washing. For example, if a worker wearing gloves
coughs or sneezes, they should wash their hands and change their gloves. If a worker
leaves the work station to go on break, they should throw their gloves away when they
leave and wash their hands and put on a new pair of gloves before they start handling
food again.
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Gloves
Types of Gloves: The GMP also requires that gloves
be impermeable. This means that water, oils or other
materials in the food must not be able to be absorbed by or pass through the glove. Two general
types of gloves, vinyl and latex, can provide an effective barrier. Since some people may have or develop an allergy to latex gloves, most firms use some
type of vinyl or plastic gloves. Cloth gloves are not
impermeable, and therefore are not acceptable when
handling food products.
Glove Durability: You should also consider how
strong the gloves need to be for the work that is being done. Inexpensive gloves can be very thin, not
fit well, and tear or puncture easily. You may need to
evaluate several different types of gloves to find ones
that are suited and durable enough for the job, but not so expensive that workers would
be discouraged to change and throw them away as often as necessary.
Sanitizing Gloves: Gloves (or hands for that matter) should be washed and sanitized
if the food you are working with will not be cooked by the consumer before it is eaten.
Food plants typically set up hand dips with a sanitizer solution so that after hand washing, employees can dip their hands, or gloves. These hand dips should contain a sanitizing
solution whose strength is equivalent to 100 ppm (parts per million) of chlorine or 12.5 to
25 ppm iodine or other suitable hand sanitizer. Its important to keep in mind that these
hand dip solutions will lose their effectiveness if gloves or hands are dirty. Hand dips must
also be consistently checked and maintained throughout the work day to be sure that the
proper sanitizer strength is maintained. Remember that hand-dips never take the place
of hand washing.
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Gloves
GMP TV: Click on the photos in the GMP TV below to review information on the proper
use of gloves and hand sanitizer dips.
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How To Monitor
Supervisors should monitor employees daily to ensure that expected glove use and practices are followed. Hand sanitizing stations or dips should also be monitored daily to be
sure that they are clean and have the proper sanitizer concentration. Although the current
GMP does not require monitoring records, you may want to keep a record of the results
of your observations for your own use. If any actions are necessary to correct problems,
these actions should also be noted on a written record. Records should also be kept to
demonstrate that all employees have been properly trained.
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Supervision
GMP Requirement: Responsibility for assuring compliance by all personnel with
the requirements of this part (of the GMP regulation) shall be clearly assigned to supervisory personnel.
The last requirement in this section of the GMP recognizes the need for supervision to
make sure that all employees follow the personal hygiene and hand washing practices reviewed in this Module.
Monitoring Employees: Earlier we discussed the fact that employees dont always do
what they know they should do, or say that they do. It is up to supervisors to continually
monitor employee practices to make sure that food is not contaminated. Remember it only
takes a single incident, in which an employee is sick with an illness that can be transmitted by food or if an employee doesnt wash their hands properly, to produce contaminated
food.
Supervisory Responsibilities: Each company must clearly define who is responsible for
supervising and monitoring employees personal hygiene and hand washing behavior and
practices. For example, in a small operation a single person may be responsible for supervising employees behavior and practices. In a larger company, many different individuals
may have this responsibility for the employees associated with certain areas of the plant
or production activities. These supervisors should also be responsible for the monitoring
and record keeping activities described earlier in each section of this Module such as the
daily employee hygiene checklist.
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How To Monitor
Supervisors should be assigned to monitor employee behavior and practices on a daily
basis to make sure that they meet the employee health, hygiene, hand washing and glove
use requirements of the GMP. Although the current GMP does not require monitoring records, you may want to require supervisors to keep track of the observations and any corrections that are made for your own use. Records of employee qualifications and training
programs should be kept to demonstrate that the requirements of this section of the GMP
have been met.
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Review Exercise
This completes our review of the sections of the GMP that focus on employee health, hygiene and hand washing.
To help review what you have learned, we would like you to look at the photograph below
and see if you can find the 4 different ways that these workers meet the personal requirements of the GMP that we have covered in this Module. You will need to use your computers mouse to move the cursor over a part of the picture you think is acceptable and click
the left button on your mouse. A member of our Clean Team will tell you why the part of
the photo you selected complies with the GMP regulation.
GMP TV: Use your mouse to find the acceptable activities or behavior in this picture.
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Employee Health
Do you have company policies and procedures that describe the symptoms, illnesses,
or conditions that employees must report to their supervisor? Do you need to develop
new policies or procedures or modify existing ones?
Do you have an employee handbook and/or conduct training for employees and supervisors that explain company policies and procedures for employees who may have
an illness that could be transmitted to food? Do you need to develop a handbook or
training programs or modify existing ones?
Do you have procedures for routinely monitoring employees and their behavior to
detect symptoms of illness? Do you need to develop new monitoring procedures or
modify existing ones?
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Hand Washing
Do you have the proper hand washing facilities or stations in all of the proper locations where they are needed? Make a list of repairs or installations that are needed.
Do you have a procedure to routinely monitor all hand washing stations to make sure
that they are properly equipped with hot water, soap, and disposable towels? Do you
need to develop new monitoring procedures or modify existing ones?
Do you have a company procedure that describes how, when, and where employees
must wash their hands or use gloves? Do you need to develop these procedures or
modify existing ones?
Do you conduct training to make sure that employees understand how, when and
where they must wash their hands? Do you need to develop new training programs,
modify existing ones, or conduct them more frequently?
Do you have a procedure to routinely monitor employees to make sure that they are
washing their hands properly at the proper time or using gloves properly? Do you
need to develop new monitoring procedures or modify existing ones?
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