ServSafe Food Handler Personal Hygiene Summary

The whole handwashing process should take at least 20 seconds: wet, apply soap, scrub for 10 to 15 seconds, rinse, and dry.

Wrong choices

• At least 10 seconds: Ten seconds is too short for the whole process. Scrubbing alone takes 10 to 15 seconds.
• Only as long as it takes to rinse: Rinsing alone does not remove germs. You must scrub with soap.
• At least 5 seconds: Five seconds is far too short to remove germs.

Handwashing steps in order:

1. Wet hands and arms with clean, warm running water.
2. Apply soap.
3. Scrub hands and arms for 10 to 15 seconds, including between fingers and under nails.
4. Rinse under clean running water.
5. Dry with a single-use paper towel or a hand dryer.

Wrong choices

• Put soap on dry hands: Soap goes on after you wet your hands.
• Dry your hands with a paper towel: Drying is the last step.
• Scrub your hands and arms: Scrubbing comes after wetting and adding soap.

Wash your hands only in a sink set aside for handwashing. Never use sinks for food prep, dishwashing, or mop water, because germs from your hands could get onto food or dishes.

Wrong choices

• In the three-compartment sink used for dishes: Washing hands there can spread germs to clean dishes.
• In the sink used to prepare food: Washing hands there can spread germs to food.
• In the mop (service) sink: The mop sink is for dirty water and cleaning tools.

Wash your hands after touching your hair, face, or body, and also after using the restroom, handling raw meat, taking out garbage, handling chemicals, eating, drinking, or smoking. Germs can be on hands that look clean.

Wrong choices

• Only at the start of each shift: You must also wash many times during the shift.
• Only when your hands look dirty: Germs can be on hands that look clean.
• Only before you go home: Washing at the end of the day does not protect the food you made.

Single-use gloves are used for one task only. Throw them away when you finish, when they get dirty or torn, or when you switch tasks. Never wash or reuse them.

Wrong choices

• Keep wearing them for the rest of the shift: Gloves must be changed between tasks.
• Wash them and use them again later in the shift: Single-use gloves must never be washed and reused.
• Rinse them with water and hang them up to dry: Rinsing does not make single-use gloves safe to reuse.

Scrub your hands and arms with soap for at least 10 to 15 seconds. Clean the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. With wetting, rinsing, and drying, the whole process takes at least 20 seconds.

Wrong choices

• Only 2 to 3 seconds: This is too short to remove germs from hands and arms.
• Just until the soap is spread around: Spreading soap is not enough. You must scrub.
• No scrubbing is needed if the water is hot: Hot water alone does not remove germs. Scrubbing with soap does.

Change gloves after handling raw meat, seafood, or poultry and before touching ready-to-eat food. Also change them when they are dirty or torn, when you start a new task, and after an interruption. Wash your hands before putting on new gloves.

Wrong choices

• Keep the same gloves, since the turkey is already cooked: Germs from the raw chicken would spread to the turkey.
• Wash your gloved hands and keep going: Single-use gloves must never be washed and reused.
• Put a new pair of gloves on over the old ones: The dirty gloves underneath can still spread germs.

Tell your manager if you have vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes), a sore throat with fever, or an infected cut with pus on your hands or arms. Also report it if a doctor says you have one of the FDA's six reportable illnesses.

Wrong choices

• A mild sunburn: A sunburn does not spread germs to food.
• Sore muscles from lifting boxes: Sore muscles do not spread germs to food.
• A tension headache: A headache alone is not a symptom you must report.

A food handler who has vomiting or diarrhea and is diagnosed with Norovirus must tell the manager and is excluded, meaning they may not work in the operation. Norovirus spreads very easily from person to person, and gloves or a different job station do not stop it.

Wrong choices

• Keep working, but wear gloves: Gloves are not enough. Norovirus spreads very easily.
• Come back to work as soon as they feel a little better: They must not come back until it is allowed under the rules for removing the exclusion.
• Keep working, but only in the dish area: A worker diagnosed with Norovirus must not work in the operation at all.

After rinsing, dry your hands with a single-use paper towel or a hand dryer. Do not use your apron, clothes, or a shared towel, because they can put germs back on your hands.

Wrong choices

• With a shared cloth towel: A shared towel can pass germs back onto clean hands.
• By wiping them on your pants: Clothes can put germs back on your clean hands.
• On your apron: Aprons can carry germs from food and dirty surfaces.