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 […]
Touchless Protection In The High-Touch Restaurant Environment
Uninvited pathogens contaminate table-side tablet menusMany risks of pathogens penetrating restaurant space can be stopped at the door with a touch-free “handwash” without water – an application of a quality hand sanitizer. The hands of entering diners are converted from fearsome to friendly, TouchReady®. There are likely many more pathogens arriving to the dining space […]
The Handwashing Factor In Avoiding Chipotle-like Brand Damage
In a recent QSR® article, Lisa van Kesteren, SeeLevel HX Founder/CEO, unintentionally gave the industry a perfect four-point outline for protecting restaurant brands with verified-handwashing technology. The CDC reminds us that “Handwashing is the single-most-important means of preventing the spread of infection” yet compliance is not measured in today’s restaurant world. This low-cost brand protection […]
Simple Flu Avoidance Technique
Raise hand sanitizer effectiveness when away from home SaniTwice™ is a simple hand-cleansing process to be taught to all children, pregnant women and other immune-compromised people for their lives away from home – without ready access to running water. SaniTwice potentiates their hand sanitizer to be “…equivalent or superior to handwashing with soap and water…” […]
Food Code Is Again Challenged By Science
Bureaucracy Buries Additions to Public Health A handwashing-without-water protocol has perplexed the FDA and its Conference for Food Protection (CFP) for 12 years, unable to resolve it at six successive biennial sessions. This recurring issue, Hand Cleanse-Sanitize Protocol Not Requiring Running Water (SaniTwice) was presented one more time at the 2018 CFP in Richmond Virginia, […]
