Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
easily cleanable headgear, footwear and light-coloured
working clothes and, where necessary, clean neck shields or
other protective clothing. Staff engaged in slaughtering
animals or working on or handling meat must wear clean
working clothes at the commencement of each working day
and must renew such clothing during the day as necessary.
gloves will become grossly contaminated from the hide
with faeces and other soils. With rubber gloves of the
'washing-up' type in common usage, it is almost impos-
sible to wash the entire length of the glove. There is
frequently, therefore, a rim of gross contamination
around the top of the glove which is readily transferred
to the meat. Attempts to seal the glove to the arm with
tape are rarely successful. Chain mail gloves also become
contaminated and can only be effectively cleaned after
removal. Although this allows the chain to be cleaned,
the fastening tapes frequently remain in a filthy state.
The best compromise is probably to cover the chain mail
glove, which is usually worn only on the free hand, with
a skin-tight rubber latex type glove.
Cut-resistant polyester yarn gloves are manufactured
by several companies for use instead of chain mail. Some
claim that an antibacterial agent has been built into the
yarn from which the glove is made which has an activity
against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria,
including salmonellae. The gloves can be laundered
through a washing machine and reused many times.
Laundry arrangements must be under the control of
the operator, either on-site or contracted out. The laun-
dering standards must be verified by the supervisors or
quality control team. The outdated practice of operatives
laundering their own protective clothing at home should
be resisted, as the monitoring and verification of stand-
ards is made impossible.
Headgear should be easily cleanable and kept clean,
and should cover the crown of the head, with all hair
retained within a hairnet and beards within a net or
snood. For both hygiene and health and safety reasons,
white bump caps are to be recommended for all staff.
Easily cleaned footwear means, in effect, that it must be
waterproof so that boot washers can be used to remove
adherent fat and soils.
Control of hazards from medical conditions
The requirement for certification by a medical practi-
tioner that operatives were fit to work with meat has very
sensibly been dropped from European legislation.
Instead the food business operator determines how he
will ensure that the operatives who pose a risk to food
are prevented from handling food or entering food
handling areas. Key elements of the operators' controls
include the following:
Hands
All operatives in the slaughter hall must have facilities
readily available to wash their hands during the working
day. The water supply must be premixed to a suitable
temperature - too cold and it will not remove the dirt
and the operative will not use it; too hot and it will pro-
duce steam and the operative will not use it - and must
be supplied through taps designed to prevent the spread
of contamination. In practice, this means a non-hand- or
arm-operated outlet. Arm-operated outlets may be suit-
able in processing areas other than the slaughter hall
where there is less risk of the operatives' arm having
gross contamination. Outlets in the slaughter hall may
be controlled by foot, knee or 'magic eye. Soap, suitable
for use in the food production environment, must be
available. Bactericidal soap is marginally more effective
than plain soap and should be non-perfumed to avoid
the potential to taint the product. Disposable paper tow-
els should also be provided and bins should be provided
to hold the towel waste.
Bell and Hathaway (1996) reported that a 44°C water
hand rinse removed 90% of the microbial contamination
from workers' hands, but rinsed hands, particularly
those contacting the fleece, still carried a microbial
population exceeding 10
4
cfu/cm.
1
Pre-employment screening by health questionnaire
with reference to the medical profession only when
necessary
2
Induction training that covers all medical conditions
that must be reported to the employer and in particular
those that mean the operative should refrain from work
3
Return to work screening following illness or travel to
particular countries, again with reference to the medi-
cal profession as necessary
4
Periodic refresher training regarding significant
symptoms and the action to take
5
Observation of operatives by supervisors to spot any
sign that there may be an unreported condition
It is important that workers who are suffering or who
have recently suffered from bouts of gastroenteritis are
excluded from duties where they are handling exposed
meat. Workers with septic lesions must cover such sores
with appropriate waterproof dressings.
An example of a staff self-declaration form which
may be used as a pre-employment questionnaire for
prospective employees in the food industry is shown in
Gloves
The wearing of rubber and chain mail gloves presents a
dichotomy between hygiene and health and safety. In the
slaughter hall, it is likely that with many of the tasks,
