by Handwashing For Life’s (HFL) over-arching goal of “Overcoming Underwashing” was advanced by HFL’s merger with Ohio State’s Center for Foodborne Illness and Prevention (CFI). Handwashing For Life’s founder and lead scientist, Jim Mann, continues his pursuit of evidence-based data for operators to make more informed policy and investment decisions.
Research projects will start small by filling foundational gaps like “What is a clean hand?” and “What constitutes a handwash?” These definitions will be peer-reviewed before publication. Once they are agreed upon, further projects will be pursued, culminating in what Handwashing For Life calls “Boardroom Grade” research.
Operators make their handwashing policy decisions based on risk as they perceive it. They need choice in addressing the situations they face at each workstation from the reception desk to the person deboning raw chicken. They get little help from Regulatory as their reports on handwashing are light on data. They are inspection-based: “The handsink is wet.” “I saw some handwashing.” “They are wearing gloves.” “I saw some missed handwashes.” “The soap dispenser was empty.” “Barehand contact was witnessed.”
The periodic visits by inspectors have proven to be of little help in motivating food-handling professionals to wash their hands. CFI/HFL will be working with regulatory on all research but agreement on these pre-research definitions is not expected nor essential. This research must be based on science, not the CDC’s or FDA’s interpretation and biases. They will likely come together when the Food Code handwashing becomes risk-based.
This new alliance furthers Handwashing For Life’s research reach and adds a hand hygiene knowledge base to CFI’s family of resources to become the true center for food safety information.
As a like-minded organization with an established research mindset, striving for growth driven by evidence-based innovation, the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention at The Ohio State University will carry forward the Handwashing For Life® promise to “Overcome under-washing”.
