Good, frequent handwashing is the best way to prevent the spread of many common diseases. Hand washing removes visible dirt from hands and helps loosen and reduce the number of harmful microbes (germs). Harmful bacteria and viruses can be carried by people and transferred to food.
Wash hands before preparing or eating food especially after touching raw meats, poultry or eggs. It is also a crucial step after using the washroom or changing a diaper. The fecal-oral route is a common way of spreading microbes from person to person. Fecal-oral means contaminated feces (stool) from an infected person is passed to another person and swallowed.
Hand Washing Steps for Consumers
Soap doesn't kill the microbes found on hands. The action of rubbing the hands together with soap and water and rinsing loosens the microbes so they slide off the hands in the running water. Research has shown the temperature of the water doesn’t matter for effective hand washing. If using bar soap, use a soap rack so it drains. Ring wearing may cause a slight decrease in the efficacy of hand washing.
The steps in proper hand washing are:
1. Wet hands and wrists with water.
2. Use liquid soap or bar soap.
3. Lather soap and rub hands together palm to palm, rub between the fingers, the back of each hand using the palm of the other hand, rub fingertips on palms to clean under fingernails, rub each thumb with the opposite hand, and rub each wrist with the opposite hand. This should take at least 15 to 20 seconds.
4. Rinse hands under running water for at least 10 seconds.
5. Dry hands completely with a paper towel or hand towel.
6. Use the paper towel to turn off the water taps and discard the paper towel.
Antibacterial Soaps
Antibacterial soaps are not necessary in the household. Regular soap and good hand washing techniques are adequate for use in the home. There is little evidence to suggest that antibacterial soaps reduce infections in the home. Some research suggests that antibacterial soaps may lead to the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Hand Sanitizers
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are disinfectants that contain at least 60 percent alcohol. Sanitizers can be used when soap and water are not available for hand washing. Sanitizers are not effective when hands are heavily soiled with dirt.
Foodservice
Hand gloves are often used in the foodservice industry. Using gloves does not eliminate the need for hand washing, which is required both before and after wearing the gloves. It is also important to change them regularly, as often as you would wash your bare hands and for no longer than four hours. The use of gloves is necessary for hands with sores, rashes and cuts; when wearing nail polish or other nail accessories; and is generally required when serving ready-to-eat foods.
Because the area beneath the fingernails is difficult to clean, research indicates food handlers should maintain short fingernails and scrub nails with soap and a nailbrush when washing hands.
Information Sources
Aiello, A.E., Larson, E.L. & Levy, S.B. (2007). Consumer antibacterial soaps: Effective or just risky? Clinical Infectious Diseases, 45, S137–S147.
Capital Health: Edmonton Area. (2008). Guidelines for proper glove use in food establishments: “No bare hands”. Retrieved from http://capitalhealth.ca
Lin, C-M., Wu, F-M., Kim, H-K., Doyle, M.P., Michaels, B.S. & Williams, K. (2003). A comparison of hand washing techniques to remove Escherichia coli and calciviruses under natural or artificial fingernails. Journal of Food Protection, 66(12), 2296-2301.
Michaels, B., Gangar, V., Schultz, A., Arenas, M., Curiale, M., Ayers, T. & Paulson, D.(2001). Handwashing water temperature effects on the reduction of resident and transient (Serratia marcescens) flora when using bland soap. Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation, 21(12), 997-1007.
Montville, R., Chen, Y. & Shaffner, D.W. (2002). Risk assessment of hand washing efficacy using literature and experimental data. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 73(2-3), 305-313.