Food handlers

People engaged in preparing, processing or handling foods. Because handlers can transfer pathogens to food, food businesses require health screening, exclusion of ill workers, training in personal hygiene, protective clothing and documented handwashing procedures as part of prerequisite programmes. Norovirus, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus shed by infected or colonised handlers are leading causes of foodborne outbreaks, which is why exclusion criteria and return-to-work rules are specified in food-safety codes. Training covers handwashing technique, glove use, illness reporting and the separation of ready-to-eat handling — audited as part of prerequisite-programme verification.