Other Healthy Food Guidelines

The following are other basic food handling guidelines to keep the food safe before, during and after serving the food.

1. Do not work in food preparation or service when you are sick. This includes when you are sneezing, have a runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, dark urine or yellowing of the skin (jaundice) or fever. These illnesses are caused by highly contagious bacteria that can easily be passed on to the food and eventually to your clientele.
2. Do not handle food if you have an infected cut or burn, pus or boil. Always wear food service gloves over any cuts, abrasions, or burns. Having open wounds or infections are havens for bugs that can only be harmful to your customers.
3. Never touch food with your bare hands. Do remember that you are handling food outdoors and not in a sterile and climate controlled kitchen. Thus you need to handle food items using gloves, tongs, forks, spoons or other utensils. Always keep a clean supply of spare utensils in a clean covered container handy at all times. Remember that if anything falls and hits the ground, whether it is food or a utensil, it is considered dirty. This is considered contaminated food must be thrown out and the contaminated utensils must be washed in soapy warm water and sanitized before being used again. A sanitizing solution usually consists of 1 part chlorine bleach in 200 parts water. There are also off-the-shelf pre-mixed chemical sanitizing solutions that can be purchased. Do not forget to properly rinse the utensils to clean them of both the bacteria and the sanitizing solution.
4. Always have a supply of food wrappers and proper utensils available to your customers so that they never directly touch any food items with their hands. This ensures avoidance of cross contamination as well as infection spreading through your food. Kindly provide instructions to customers as needed so they maintain food hygiene not only for their overall health but also for the others around them.
5. Clean and sanitize all your food service utensils at each days end and store them in a clean washable covered container. This prevents accumulation of food particles that are breeding grounds for harmful bacteria and other microbiological nuisances. Never mix clean and used utensils in the same container, as the used items would contaminate the clean ones. It is best to put these utensils through a hot bath to ensure that bacteria are removed as well as residue from the sanitizing solution.

The local health department may require you to have a sink for washing utensils. Many health departments actually require hotdog carts to have as many as 3 or 4 sinks on the cart. For example, some counties specify that a hot dog cart have one sink for washing and rinsing utensils and one for sanitizing in chlorine bleach. The third sink would be devoted solely to hand washing. These regulations are designed to prevent cross contamination from occurring. Check carefully with your local health authorities for the regulations in your area to be fully aware of the specifications for compliance.

Hand sanitation is especially critical when serving food to others as many diseases and bacteria are passed on through unwashed hands. Throughout history, many of the epidemics that have plagued clientele have been passed through contaminated food. A vendor cart therefore should have hand soap, hand sanitizer and disposable paper towels on hand at all times. These materials ensure the cleanliness of the food being handled.

As a food service operator you are required to wash your hands immediately after using the toilet, coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, handling money, or after touching garbage or any or unsanitary or toxic item. You must also wash your hands when you re-enter the food service work area (the hotdog cart) even if you have just washed them in another place such as in a nearby washroom. You can never be too sure of the cleanliness of your hands because remember that you are outdoors and there are many airborne bacteria. You must also wash your hands after eating, drinking, smoking, washing dishes, washing other equipment, sweeping or mopping the floor, handling raw, fresh or frozen meat or any other food items, and even before putting on gloves to handle food. This prevents your hands from becoming a carrier for harmful bacteria such as salmonella among others.

Hands should be washed using hot water and soap. For example, the IDPH specifies that hand washing water be at least 110°F. You should lather your hands for 15-20 seconds thoroughly. Attention should be given to removing any dirt or contamination under the fingernails and especially between the fingers themselves. Then dry your hands using a single use towel (such as paper towels), a clean towel on a roller dispenser, or by an air dryer. Multi-use hand towels such as are used at home are not acceptable in the food service industry as these can store and transfer contamination and bacteria. Also avoid wiping your hands on your work clothes, your apron or your hair, as this would defeat the purpose of your hand washing.

The use of gloves should never be seen as a means to short cut proper hand sanitation. Gloves can become contaminated and pick up and spread germs. For example, you would not use gloves to handle raw meat and then also to serve cooked food as this would transmit bacteria from the raw food to the cooked food. To prevent cross contamination, you need to use separate gloves for each step of the food preparation process. Also, dispose of the gloves at the end o the day as these will already be contaminated and keeping them can prove to be unhealthy.

Proper headgear such as a hat or hairnet must be worn to contain hair and prevent it from falling and contaminating the food. You do not want your customer to find a hair in their food. It would surely cost you customers and your hard earned reputation as a quality food vendor. Hairnets or hats also prevent germs from your body to contaminate the food that you handle.

Keep your fingernails clean and trimmed short. It is unwise to wear finger rings as these can trap and carry food particles and bacteria and transfer them to clean food. Rings can also cut through gloves making them useless. Watches and bracelets also can become colonies for bacteria. Keeping things short and simple will surely prove to be safer in the food handling business.

Do not smoke, chew tobacco, eat or drink when serving or preparing food. You must leave the food preparation and serving area for any of these activities. Move a short distance away from your cart to eat, drink or smoke. Ash or tobacco may be passed on to the food thus altering the taste and aroma of your food. Remember that you must then wash your hands when you return to the cart.

You are however allowed to drink from a closed beverage container while in the food service area. Such a beverage container would need to have a lid on it as these become havens for bacteria that should not be passed on to the food you prepare. It must also have a handle to prevent your hand from touching the area that your mouth touches. This small act prevents the passage of any bacteria from your mouth unto the food that you eat. Otherwise it could have a drinking straw that would accomplish the same purpose. Always wash the container between uses or discard it to prevent the proliferation and the passage of harmful bacteria.

Your clothing must be kept clean and neat. Soiled clothing can store and transfer bacteria. A fresh change of clean clothes must be worn each day or each work shift. Not only does this look well from a marketing standpoint, it also serves as a sign of cleanliness and health when your clothes are clean and fresh daily.

Never store food on the ground or floor. To do so would subject it to contamination from dirt, insects, water, and any spills. It can also become magnets for raiding marauders such as rats and other vermin. Food must always be stored on a shelf raised off of the floor or ground.

Do not store cleaning chemicals alongside food or food preparation utensils. They must be stored completely separate from food to prevent contamination and poisoning. Even the scents or the storage containers can transfer harmful chemicals to your food. Keep all such chemicals clearly labeled so they are not misused.

Most health departments require a roof or umbrella to be installed over a cart to protect the food service area from rain, falling leaves, blowing debris and bird droppings. The umbrella also helps in reflecting the sunlight as this also affects the overall freshness as well as the sanitary conditions of your food.

Have a garbage container on hand at all times. Never allow it to over-flow. Dispose of any garbage as required. Most health department codes require separate garbage containers in the food cart as well as outside the food cart. The garbage container should be properly lined with plastic bags for easy disposal. Sanitize the garbage container at the end of each day to prevent odor and the accumulation of germs inside the garbage container.

Always keep your food preparation and serving areas looking clean. Clean up spilled condiments and wrappers to keep the area looking neat and clean. Do this in between customers and use paper towels as well as sanitizing liquids to kill bacteria that may be residing on your food service cart.