Data unleashes sustainable solutions Healthcare handwashing research rarely reaches the ranks of restaurant’s food safety and risk management professionals. A recent review of the impact of Electronic Handwash Monitoring in healthcare has answered the question that has held back serious evaluations by the restaurant industry: Handwashing data may increase policy compliance but does it reduce […]
The Engaged Handwasher: Brand Protector #1
Chicago’s recent Food Safety Summit was the latest venue for brand-protecting professionals to gather and assess new technologies. Educational sessions frequently put handwashing under the collaborative microscope and at the top of the list of potential outbreak-reducing actions, following HACCP’s advice to take on the biggest risk first. Similarly, hand hygiene discussions rippled through the […]
Self-Compliant Handwashing Answers the Skeptics of Electronic Monitoring
The Magic is Employee Engagement Originally published May 5, 2019 on Food Safety News. The top 100 restaurant chains have good trainers but they almost all fail to change handwashing behavior in a sustainable way. That has been, is and thought by many to be its likely future. If good trainers can’t do it, there […]
Data >> Recognition >> Handwash Compliance
What matters gets rewarded and repeated. Recognition is a powerful motivator in foodservice. It is emerging as one of the strongest arguments to invest in Electronic Hand Wash Monitoring technology. EHWM serves up real-time data which engages workers and sets up a playing field where their avid policy compliance wins and can be rewarded in […]
The 2018 Norovirus Restaurant Report Card
Symptom vs. Source According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), norovirus continues to be responsible for over 50 percent of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. In recent years, a majority of foodborne norovirus outbreaks occurred in restaurants, often related to an infected employee practicing poor handwashing and subsequently handling food. There is […]
Olympic Handwashing Winners in Chicago
Games motivate restaurant handwashing. Food Safety experts gathered in Chicago at the Food Safety Summit to test their skills at this year’s Handwashing For Life Olympics. “Athletes” had 20 seconds to cleanse their hands of simulated pathogens. Each day produced a Gold Medal Winner from a wide range of participants. Along with the medal each […]
A Tragic Outcome From Secondary Contamination
High-touch surfaces retain and multiply deadly risks 16 month old Riley Detwiler never ate an undercooked hamburger from Jack-In-The-Box 25 years ago but his daycare classmate’s mother who worked at JITB and was infected brought the pathogen to her son who in turn contaminated Riley. This chain of contamination is a reminder that surfaces must […]
Paper cleans. Paper dries. Paper wins.
Air dryers have been under the microscope for years because of their poor drying capability and “bug-blowback”. They won the superficial argument of saving paper, saving trees, but ignoring the fact that they introduce a much costlier possible outcome of a foodborne outbreak. “Save a little lose a lot.” “In most institutions, toilets don’t have […]
Crowdsourced Risk In Foodservice
Two social media experts share their views. Good news travels fast but bad news spreads even faster. Crowdsourced commentary on restaurant experiences has spawned a new website, serving as an early alert to potential problems. Social media multiplies the impact of University of North Carolina State’s very graphic Barf Blog, maintained by Dr. Ben Chapman. […]
E-Monitoring Handwash History In Foodservice
Limitations from the Past Deter New-tech Trials Net/Tech, UltraClenz and Diversey’s initial entry (VET), are but three of the many failed electronic handwash monitoring systems tested by major US foodservice companies. What did they all have in common? personal ID badges – a distinct handicap in this high staff-turnover environment. The watershed-event of the Jack-In-The-Box […]
