Food Hygiene Campaign: Your Questions Answered

The Food Standards Agency's Food Hygiene Campaign is part of the strategy for reducing foodborne illness. The Agency has a target to reduce the number of food poisoning cases in the UK by 20% by 2006.

The Food Hygiene Campaign is one of a number of initiatives that the Agency is using to implement its foodborne disease strategy. The campaign is the most visible of these to the public and catering industry.

The Campaign aims to raise awareness of food hygiene issues and change behaviour, to help achieve the Agency's target for reducing cases of food poisoning.

The latest phase will build on the success of the campaign since it launched in February 2002, and continue to raise awareness of food hygiene issues.

The Agency is sending a pack direct to more than 300,000 catering businesses, containing:

• a free 8-minute training video, which can be used by managers to train staff in basic food hygiene
• a booklet on food safety management to complement the video
• stickers communicating key food hygiene messages covered in the video and booklet

The pack materials are based on the '4 Cs' (Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination), which were introduced in the last phase of the campaign.

Campaign activity will include national TV, press and radio adverts to communicate simple hygiene messages to people who work in catering businesses. We also have a dedicated campaign website for caterers: www.food.gov.uk/cleanup, which includes new information on cleaning and handwashing.

Any catering businesses, catering colleges and local authorities can order a free copy of the pack from our Publications line on 0845 606 0667.

Yes, this phase of the campaign is UK-wide.

We undertook a survey among catering managers and staff about food hygiene knowledge and behaviour in the workplace. The survey shows that more than a third of those questioned (39%) don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet at work.

When asked ‘When you are at work, when do you wash your hands?’ 61% said they wash their hands after visiting the toilet. Of course, what people say they do and what they actually do on a day-to-day basis might not be the same. Some people might have said they wash their hands at particular times because they think that is what they should say. It’s quite possible that MORE than 39% of catering staff don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet at work.

So we can tell from our research that many catering workers are not carrying out a step that is an essential part of good food hygiene practice. And if they aren’t washing their hands after going to the toilet, what other basic hygiene steps are being missed out?

The public expects people who prepare food to follow basic food hygiene practices. But often they can’t see what goes on in a catering establishment’s kitchen. The picture that has emerged from the research - of many catering workers failing to wash their hands at such an important time - demonstrates that we need to focus on the really simple issues to improve food hygiene standards and protect the public.

Surveys were conducted among managers and staff in small to medium-sized independent catering businesses, between 15 April and 25 May 2002. The interviews were conducted face to face.

A total of 1,016 people were interviewed. In Great Britain, 438 managers were interviewed and 377 staff. A further 201 interviews were conducted in Northern Ireland (101 with managers, 100 with staff).

70% of the businesses surveyed had 1 to 4 full-time employees. (Full time is 30 hours or more per week.)

48% claimed they wash their hands after handling raw meat.

47% said they wash their hands before preparing food.

17% said they wash their hands after handling money.

21% said they wash their hands ‘when they are dirty’ - but one of the problems is that since bacteria are invisible, you can’t always see that your hands need washing – this is why it’s important to wash them before and after particular activities. (See When should catering staff wash their hands?)

When asked specifically about food hygiene practices and the main things they should do, 64% mentioned washing hands. 26% mentioned washing hands after handling raw meat.

The survey covered mainly small to medium-sized independent businesses. 15% were hotels, 15% B&Bs, and another 15% pubs serving hot food. 10% were European-style restaurants and 7% were ethnic restaurants. Takeaways (including fish and chips, burgers, pizzas and kebabs) and cafes comprised 18% of the sample. Roadside snack bars, food stalls, and catering outlets supplying retailers, or catering for large events (such as weddings), were also included.

No, the research focused on small to medium sized independent catering businesses and 70% of the businesses surveyed had 1 to 4 full-time employees. So the research didn’t cover high-street chains.

The research did not aim to compare different types of business, just to cover a representative sample of small to medium-sized independent catering businesses. There can be good or bad hygiene in any type of food business.

To wash hands properly, we recommend these six steps:

1. Wet your hands thoroughly under warm running water and squirt liquid soap onto the palm of one hand.
2. Rub your hands together to make a lather.
3. Rub the palm of one hand along the back of the other and along the fingers. Then repeat with the other hand.
4. Rub in between each of your fingers on both hands and round your thumbs.
5. Rinse off the soap with clean water.
6. Dry hands thoroughly on a disposable towel.

Handwashing is a very important element of good food hygiene, because hands can easily spread bacteria around the kitchen. Research shows that many catering workers don’t wash their hands when they should. So it’s a crucial aim to make catering staff understand the importance of handwashing.

And since a quick rinse isn’t enough to get hands properly clean, it’s also important for people who work in food businesses to understand how to wash and dry their hands properly.

By law, everyone working in a food handling area must maintain a high degree of personal hygiene [Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995]. And handwashing is a very important element of personal hygiene.

It’s also an offence to serve food that is dangerous to health. [The Food Safety Act 1990]

Yes, all food businesses must provide a basin in food areas for staff to wash their hands. It must have hot and cold running water, soap and suitable equipment for drying hands, such as disposable towels. If unwrapped food is handled in the business, there must be a separate sink for washing food. [The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995]

They should wash their hands:

• immediately before starting work
• before handling ready-to-eat food
• after touching raw food, especially raw meat or poultry
• after going to the toilet
• after a break
• after emptying a bin
• after smoking
• after cleaning

Yes, because clean hands are the first level of defence against harmful bacteria. Hands come into contact with lots of things covered in bacteria in the course of the working day. So effective handwashing is essential to stop hands spreading the bacteria around the kitchen and onto food.

It is not necessary to use antibacterial soap. Plain soap and warm water is effective if people wash their hands properly. We recommend a liquid soap, because it is less likely to become contaminated with bacteria. If staff do use an antibacterial soap, they still need to wash their hands thoroughly. See 'How does the Agency recommend that people wash their hands?'

The Agency’s Consumer Attitudes to Food survey 2001 shows that eating out and food poisoning are matters of significant concern for the public.

In the 2001 survey, more than half (51%) of consumers expressed concern about standards of hygiene in catering outlets, compared with 42% in 2000.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of consumers’ concerns were about cleanliness of the premises, staff or kitchen.

And 7 out of 10 consumers who said they had suffered from food poisoning in the past year said their illness had been caused by eating out.

Our research shows that the campaign has been successful so far in raising awareness of food hygiene issues among catering managers and workers. But it is important to reinforce the key messages in order to change behaviour and help the Agency reach its target for reducing cases of food poisoning.

The catering industry employs about 2 million people, so it’s very important to make sure that the messages are getting through, not just to the people who manage food businesses, but also to the people who prepare food day by day. This is how we aim to change behaviour on a large scale.

We have gathered contact details from local authorities’ databases of catering businesses and have sent the packs out centrally. We don’t have information about the nature of each business and its food safety record, so we have not ‘hand picked’ the businesses we are sending the pack to.

So we are sending the pack to all the catering businesses we have details for. Individual caterers who receive the pack should not see it as a sign of what the Agency thinks of their food hygiene standards. We recognise that lots of businesses already have high standards of food hygiene, but we believe that the pack will prove useful to any catering business. It provides new materials to consolidate existing knowledge and resources, and to help train new staff.

Any catering business that has not received a pack by mid November can contact the Agency’s Publications line for a free copy, on 0845 606 0667.

Caterers can visit the special campaign website at www.food.gov.uk/cleanup, or consult Agency publications such as the Guide to food hygiene and Food safety regulations. They can also seek advice from the environmental health service of their local authority.

We wanted to provide a free resource for catering businesses to help them reinforce and improve their staff’s understanding of food hygiene issues.

During the post-launch evaluation of the campaign, it emerged that the catering industry would like the Agency’s help with training. Many catering businesses, particularly the smaller ones, say they can’t afford the time or the money to send staff on food hygiene training courses, so we wanted to help businesses train their own staff.

The new training video is a practical tool, which managers of food businesses can use to train their staff in-house.

We didn’t want to produce a boring training video. We wanted to present key food hygiene messages in an innovative and memorable way.

The TV ad screened earlier in the year, which showed bacteria being spread around the kitchen, was very successful, and we received lots of requests for copies. So we decided to use a similar approach to demonstrate how bacteria can be spread.

The dramatic style of the video is designed to have a lasting impact on the audience, and also to appeal to young people [most catering staff are in the 16-25 age group].

We also designed the video to be easy to understand for people who do not speak English as their first language. Words are kept to a minimum and are demonstrated with actions.

There is lots of other information available to caterers in booklets such as The guide to food hygiene and Food safety: a practical guide for managers, and on the campaign website for caterers (www.food.gov.uk/cleanup).

The 4 Cs are the main things to remember for good food hygiene. They are:

• cleaning – work areas should be kept clean and food handlers should wash their hands regularly
• cooking – food, especially meat, should be cooked properly
• chilling – chilled foods should be kept cold and hot foods should be cooled as quickly as possible and then chilled
• cross-contamination – raw foods should be kept separate from ready-to-eat foods, and surfaces and utensils should be cleaned thoroughly, to avoid cross-contamination

There are different ways of trying to measure the number of cases of food poisoning – none of them give the complete picture. Our Consumer Attitudes to Food Survey 2001 shows what consumers say their experience has been in the past year.

Not all of the people who say they have had food poisoning will have had it, and not all of the cases will have been caused by the food they suspect. But this survey provides an indication both of the level of public concern and possible scale.

This survey suggests that around 5.5 million people in the UK suffer from food poisoning each year and, among these, 4.2 million believe that their illness was caused by food eaten outside the home.

(The 5.5 million figure was calculated by multiplying the total percentage of respondents to the nationally representative Consumer Attitudes to Food survey 2001 who said they had experienced food poisoning in the past year, by the most recent figure for UK population aged over 16 years. [The population figure was provided by the Office of National Statistics.])

There were 590 reported deaths in the UK in 2000 attributed to infectious intestinal disease (IID). It is likely that a significant proportion of these will have been due to food poisoning.

Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea. Sometimes, you might also develop a fever.

Other illnesses, medicines and excessive alcohol can cause similar symptoms to food poisoning.

There are three main things to consider when you are ill:

• rehydration - drink plenty of fluids and perhaps use rehydration powders available from pharmacies
• medical assistance - if you are concerned about your health or the health of someone else, contact NHS Direct (0845 4647) or your GP for advice (especially in the case of pregnant women, elderly people, children and people who are already ill)
• reporting - if you think that your illness was caused by food prepared outside the home, report the incident to your local environmental health service

The launch of the campaign generated high levels of media coverage and recall among target audiences. [Campaign activity included TV ads focusing on the importance of handwashing, heat-sensitive ads in magazines, radio ads and an information pack mailed direct to caterers.]

54% of the 16-25 age group spontaneously recalled the Food Hygiene Campaign advertising. And almost two thirds of these correctly described the ‘wash your hands’ message. When prompted, 74% of 16-35 year olds recalled the TV advertising.

The Agency commissioned research to assess awareness of basic food hygiene messages among catering managers and staff, both before and after the launch of the campaign. Among managers, the percentage giving correct answers rose from 33% to 67%. Following the first phase of the campaign, 75% staff answered correctly, compared with 33% beforehand.

This campaign will help EHOs because it raises the profile of the vital work they do to protect public health. It makes clear to local authorities that consumers consider this work to be important.

We are aware of the resource difficulties faced by many local authorities, particularly in recruitment. Some of the Agency’s activities, including the publication of local enforcement data and the assessment of local services, and the Food Hygiene Campaign, have helped some local authorities to secure additional resources.

In the development of the training video we considered feedback from caterers in minority ethnic groups, who expressed a preference for mainly visual materials. In the video, words are kept to a minimum and are demonstrated with actions.

The Agency’s new booklet, Food safety: a practical guide for managers, is available in English, Welsh, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu.

We acknowledge that some sections of the catering industry are harder to reach and we’re working with local authorities to make best use of their local networks and knowledge to achieve this.

Radio advertising will also be targeted at people from minority ethnic groups.

The campaign’s central messages – the 4 Cs (Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination) – are relevant to the public, as well as caterers. When preparing food at home, people should keep work surfaces and utensils clean, wash their hands before preparing food and after handling raw meat, cook food properly, keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible, and keep raw and ready-to-eat foods apart.

The 4 Cs are explained in a leaflet for consumers, called Preventing food poisoning. The Agency’s main website also gives information on topics such as food poisoning and what to do if you’re concerned about hygiene standards in a restaurant.

Of course, members of the public are bound to see the TV advertising focusing on the importance of handwashing and, although the ads are primarily aimed at people who work in catering, keeping hands clean is a very important message for the home kitchen as well.

If someone thinks that a restaurant is serving food that might not be safe to eat, or if they think the people who work there don’t practise good food hygiene, they can report it to the environmental health service of their local authority. They should also tell their family and friends.

People can find contact details for their local environmental health service by doing a postcode search on the Food Standards Agency’s website.

If someone thinks that a restaurant is serving food that might not be safe to eat, or if they think the people who work there don’t practise good food hygiene, they can report it to the environmental health service of their local authority. They should also tell their family and friends.

People can find contact details for their local environmental health service by doing a postcode search on the Food Standards Agency’s website.

This is a five-year campaign, so you can expect to see lots more activity until 2006. The focus of future phases will be determined on the basis of ongoing evaluation of the campaign.

The current themes of the campaign, and the materials in the new pack, are laying the foundation for more detailed information on food safety management [or HACCP].

We are seeking the help of local authorities by asking enforcement officers to refer to materials on their routine inspections and ask caterers how useful they find them. We are also working closely with local authorities to get regular feedback on the impact of materials and messages.

We will also be carrying out post-campaign research.

People can contact Food Standards Agency Publications:

tel: 0845 606 0667
minicom: 0845 606 0678
fax: 020 8867 3225
email: foodstandards@eclogistics.co.uk