Routes of Foodborne Illness & Germs
From your sniffling coworker to the raw chicken on your kitchen cutting board, everyday life is full of potential infectious hazards. With germs so common and seemingly everywhere, knowing how germs spread is vital to preventing infection and foodborne illness. There are seven possible ways for the transmission of bacteria and viruses to take place. Although some of these microorganisms in our environment are good for us and protect us, disease causing pathogens are the germs or bad guys.
In a food service environment, pathogens can be abundant so handwashing, working in your restaurant only when you are healthy, and good sanitation help us limit or shut down these routes of transmission. Some of the routes are not specific to food environments, but helps understand how they all contribute to disease transmission and our efforts for prevention.
Direct Contact –This mode of transmission involves physical contact and generally takes place through shaking hands, touching someone, kissing, sexual contact, etc. Body fluids such as blood, saliva, emesis, or mucous provide the transfer substance. HIV, bloodborne forms of hepatitis, and STD’s would be in this category.
Indirect Contact—Germs are spread between people via an intermediate object, usually something inanimate. Door knobs, railings, counters, tables, and other frequently touched objects are common culprits. Cold viruses and the Norovirus (foodborne illness leader) can be transmitted this way.
Droplet Spread—An infectious agent is spread through the air when two people are near each other (cough, sneeze, or just talking). Respiratory diseases such as influenza are in this category.
Fecal-To-Oral Route—Here’s our most common foodborne illness route. Transmission occurs when an infected person fails to adequately wash their hands after going to the bathroom and touches food. The person then goes on to have direct contact with another person, such as shaking hands, or spreads germs through indirect contact by contaminating food with hands, for example. If an ill person (viral or bacterial illness) prepares your ready-to-eat food, such as a salad, chances are good you will get that disease. As a little food safety levity, we call this the poopy finger route. Hepatitis A, Norovirus, Salmonella, E. coli, etc. are spread this way.
Common-vehicle Spread—This form of transmission involves a contaminated, inanimate “vehicle” that spreads germs to several or many people. Examples include a city water supply that’s contaminated with parasites or packaged foods tainted with Salmonella or Listeria. Temperature often plays a role in this type of spread since many germs will produce larger amounts of toxin in a warmer, more humid environment, but are kept in check at refrigerated conditions.
Airborne Spread—Germs are spread through the air over a distance of several feet. The infectious organisms are usually contained in tiny droplets that can remain suspended in air for hours or days. Tuberculosis, anthrax, and Norovirus can be spread by airborne transmission. Airborne spread can be affected by the speed of direction of airflow—enclosed spaces with poor air circulation (cruise ships, casinos, airplanes, etc.) can be particularly bad.
Vector-borne Spread—This route is less associated with food. It involves the transfer of germs to a person via the body of another organism (contaminated flies, ticks, or a mosquito from the contact or a bite).
Bottom Line: We continually need to stress to food workers the importance of good personal hygiene, frequent handwashing, using barriers between hands and food, and not taking the risk of working with food when ill or directly exposed to someone who is sick. People preparing our food do literally have a hand in food safety. Understanding the simplicity of disease transmission might have some shock value when training your crew about food safety, so use every tool to help them understand the how, when, why to safer food and a healthy crew.
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About the Author: Lacie Thrall
Lacie Thrall passed away in early 2017 after a long illness. She dedicated her 35-year career to improving the health and well-being of others by promoting food safety best practices. Lacie worked in environmental health for 17 years before joining FoodHandler in 1997 as the Director of Safety Management. While at FoodHandler, she trained employees and customers on safe food handling practices, including proper hand hygiene and glove use. Later as a FoodHandler consultant, Lacie provided the foodservice industry with food safety information and advice through her blog on FoodHandler.com.
This information is provided as a general guideline and is not intended to be, nor does it, constitute legal or regulatory advice. Additional Federal regulations may apply to your particular circumstances. State, regional and local laws, ordinances and regulations may also apply.
During National Food Safety Education Month is it time for Your Food Safety Refresher?
You see them in every restaurant and commercial foodservice operation across the United States. Framed and proudly displayed, often by the kitchen, the cashier, the kitchen entrance, or the service counter - just as they should be. To what am I referring? The food safety certification certificates, of course!
Welcome to National Food Safety Education Month!
In September of each year, we not only have the opportunity to celebrate Labor Day, but we also welcome National Food Safety Education Month! It is this time of the year when it is important to remember that Foodborne illnesses are still a major concern in the United States, although I am guessing many Americans don’t think about the safety of the food they eat as they go throughout their daily lives. The statistics show one in every six Americans will suffer from a foodborne illness each year, for a total of about 48 million cases each year.
Protecting Fresh Produce Post-Harvest, Integral to Safe Food
During the height of the summer, at least in the Midwest, farmers markets are in full swing and fresh produce is plentiful. Every backyard gardener is reaping the benefits of their work, with bountiful harvests of tomatoes and cucumbers. Everyone seems to have a neighbor who is trying to pawn off his or her over-production of cucumbers or summer squash during this time of year. When picking up that produce at the farmer’s market or from your neighbor down the street, have you ever given any thought to the microbial safety of it? Honestly, even in my position, it certainly is NOT the first thing that comes to my mind. But, earlier this month, I came across a news story out of Wisconsin discussing a Salmonella outbreak associated with shelled peas sold at a local farmers market. Who would have thought shelled peas would be impacted? The story noted, and it served as a great reminder, that most outbreaks associated with Salmonella in produce are due to mistakes made in handling or transportation of produce after harvesting.
Properly Cleaning and Sanitizing: The Right Chemical Mix to Maintain Ultimate Effectiveness
A few weeks ago, my family and I had the pleasure of setting sail on a cruise vacation. It is truly one of the only ways that I find that I am able to unplug from work and relax for a small spell. However, as I walked around the ship in our post-COVID world, I couldn’t help but admire all the extra cleaning steps the staff were undertaking to keep us all as safe as possible while in the middle of the ocean with 3,000 other vacationers. All of this cleaning and sanitizing had me thinking about how we each clean and sanitize our own operations and which chemicals we chose to use.
