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1. What can food employees do to help prevent the spread of disease in a food establishment that serves a HSP?

Food employees should:

• Comply with meeting reporting requirements and inform their manager if they are experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice and/or sore throat with fever
• Keep hands and arms clean
• Follow proper hand washing procedures
• Maintain trimmed fingernails
• Do not wear jewelry on hands and arms except for a simple wedding band
• Use single-use gloves for one task
• Do not touch RTE (Ready to Eat) food with bare hands and minimize bare hand contact with exposed food that is not RTE
• Wear clean clothes and hair restraints
• Do not work with exposed food if experiencing persistent sneezing, coughing, or a running nose or discharge from the eyes, nose or mouth

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

2. What makes a population highly susceptible?

A population is highly susceptible to foodborne illness if it is:

• Immunocompromised
• Pre-school children
• Older adults
• Individuals who obtain food a facility that provides services such as:
  • Custodial Care
  • Health care
  • Assisted living
  • Child care center
  • Adult care center
  • Kidney dialysis center
  • Hospital
  • Nursing home
  • Nutritional center
  • Senior center

3. What should the manager of a food establishment serving a HSP do when an employee reports an exposure to foodborne illness?

Restrict the food employee and make sure that training is provided about:

• The foodborne illness and related symptoms
• Hand washing procedures
• The prevention of bare hand contact with RTE (Ready to Eat) foods
• The length of restriction and what is required to have the restriction lifted

The manager must restrict food employees exposed to:

• Norovirus - for at least 2 days (48 hours) from exposure
• Shigella spp. or E Coli O157H7 - for at least 3 days (72 hours) from exposure
• Salmonella Typhi - for at least 14 days from exposure
• Hepatitis A virus - for at least 30 days from exposure or after training has been giving about symptoms, use of bare hand contact with RTE food to avoid contamination, and proper hand washing

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

4. What should the manager of a food establishment serving HSP do to protect the HSP from exposure to viruses and harmful pathogens?

A food establishment manager should:

• Carefully follow protocols for exclusion and restriction, adjusting and reinstating food employees' work status in the establishment
• Ensure employees are properly trained in food safety as it relates to their duties and use additional safeguards as required for working in a HSP
• Reinforce employee compliance to guarantee good hygienic practices, acknowledge onset of symptoms, meet reporting requirements, and ensure no bare hand contact with RTE (Ready to Eat) food by educating food employees on the importance of following best practice
• Ensure employees have access to facilities that are well-maintained and have the necessary supplies available to follow proper hygienic practices

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook