The key to reducing cross contamination in the food industry
October 1st 2005 By Iiro Mattila, Product group manager, Away From Home, Metsa Tissue
Hygiene standards within the food industry have always been stringent but since the New European Food Safety Laws were introduced on the 1st January this year they have become even tougher. From farm or harvest to consumption, food safety and measures to prevent the spread of bacterium such as salmonella and listeria have never been stricter. Monitoring arrangements like the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system are increasingly being used by food industry professionals to help identify and prevent workplace hazards and to encourage cleaner working practices and higher standards of personal hygiene.
Good hand hygiene has a critical role to play in reducing cross contamination risks in the food preparation environments of catering and food processing companies. The Food Standards Agency UK recommends that kitchen staff, "Should regularly wash and dry their hands before starting work, when handling ready-to-eat or raw foods such as meat or poultry, or when recommencing work after a toilet or work break." ("Guide to Food Hygiene" The Food Standards Agency UK).
To encourage staff to wash their hands frequently they need access to quality, conveniently located hand hygiene facilities.
Using no-touch dispenser units with quality paper can significantly help to reduce levels of cross contamination in food preparation areas. Unlike more traditional designs where users have to touch a lever or a button to retrieve a towel with the risk of leaving behind marks which could harbour the growth of germs and bacteria, no-touch dispensers avoid users having to touch the dispenser unit directly, as a new towel is presented immediately after the preceding one is taken.
Proper hand drying with the use of a quality hand towel is more vital to hand hygiene than is often given credit for. While washing hands with water and soap typically removes nearly 85% of bacteria, this figure significantly increases with proper hand drying. Warm air dryers are increasingly being used, but these tend to leave hands moist rather than fully dried and the warm, damp conditions will encourage bacteria growth. Alternatively, drying hands with paper towels is quicker and more thorough: typically taking seven to nine seconds compared with 25 seconds with a hot air drier.
When a quality paper towel is used to dry the hands immediately after washing, bacterial removal increases to 98%. Consequently, having a conveniently positioned no-touch dispenser system in a food preparation area can significantly cut the risks of cross contamination.
Metsa Tissue's Katrin range of touch-free dispensers offers an excellent example. Reliable and easy to use they present users with the same sized hand towel as soon as a preceding towel is taken. They are also highly robust and easy to keep clean, an essential requirement in food preparation areas.
Overall cost and maintenance can also be a major consideration for anyone looking to improve the provision of their on-site hand hygiene facilities. Robust touch-free dispenser units that are quick and easy to keep clean and dispense towels one-by-one to control consumption and prevent unnecessary waste can provide the long term savings required.
Metsa Tissue's Katrin One Stop Hand Towel dispenser for example is quick and easy to keep clean due to its streamlined design and construction from tough ABS plastic. With additional features which include an in-built transparent 'eye' which makes it easy to check when refills are needed and the provision of one-by-one towel dispensing which prevents unnecessary wastage, labour hours and maintenance costs can be more tightly controlled.
For larger busier food premises automatic dispenser systems can provide an effective high demand alternative with even more rapid towel dispensing. Metsa Tissue's new Katrin Electric Roll Towel Dispenser offers a good example. Besides offering rapid consistent dispensing which ensures the right sized hand towel with the same level of absorbency is available to the user every time, the unit also holds long lasting 200- metre rolls which help to reduce labour hours as it requires less frequent changing.
In addition, the Katrin Electric Roll Towel Dispenser requires just four D cell alkaline batteries allowing up to 100 rolls of 200- metre, highly absorbent Katrin 2-ply paper towels to be dispensed before the batteries ever need changing..
By installing dispenser units like the Katrin touch-free range it is easier than ever before to bring the hygienic advantages of handsfree paper towel drying into food preparation areas. No-touch systems can make a significant contribution to reducing cross contamination, but they will only work effectively if users wash their hands.
Educating workers to take personal responsibility is certainly a key part in tackling the risks of cross contamination and increasingly many facilities are now installing signs to remind users about proper hand washing. A checklist should be put near every hand-washing station for staff to record the number of times they wash their hands. This should be checked on a regular basis and analysis should take place every month to maintain hygiene standards.
Food hygiene professionals have a responsibility both to themselves and those who will ultimately consume the food they produce, to maintain the highest standards of hygiene possible. Good quality hand hygiene facilities are available, but only when the right choices and investment are made can cross contamination be reduced and long term savings enabled. More articles from Metsa Tissue Ltd: | 
