by Lesson learned from IAFP. Preparation for CFP.
The SaniTwice® protocol is back in the news as the results of recent research in produce fields reaches farms, processors and restaurants. All markets are cleared and encouraged to use this process and its name without any royalties, much like the IAFP food safety icons are protected yet shared without royalty payments. (International Association for Food Protection.)
In both cases the registration/copyrights help retain the integrity of the communication element, protecting it against misuse and avoiding it being open to other variances. In the case of SaniTwice, Handwashing For Life needed a way to stabilize the protocol so other independent labs could conduct research as they did and journals could write about it.
SaniTwice also provided a more manageable term compared to The Double Application of Hand Sanitizer With An Interim Wipe-off With Single-Use Paper Toweling.
SaniTwice will once again be presented at the upcoming 2016 Conference For Food Protection for FDA’s consideration to be added to the Model Food Code which would open its use in water-short situations like boil-water events, power outages, fairs, outdoor events, petting zoos and temporary food service situations like trade show food sampling.
Handwashing For Life is not hopeful as every two years either the CDC or the FDA find ways of circumventing the science. First, in 2008, the action was a request for more research. Twice the answer was to form a committee which gave us 4 more years of work without a solution, delaying this valuable addition to the operators arsenal of public health protecting options.
Another “No” came when CDER, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, was said to have control of this proposed change but CDER said they were not, creating a bureaucratic ping-pong for protecting the status-quo.
Eight years of delay will likely go to ten as the third round of the CFP’s “Hand Hygiene Committee” comes up short and Handwashing For Life’s independent attempt will likely be designated as “No Action” for a reason that will have to be quite creative or repetitive. That would actually go beyond a decade of delay as nothing is likely to happen until the 2018 CFP.
