You are late for work so you hail a cab open the door and get inside.
You are running to get down the stairs and catch hold of the railing for support.
You are in an office meeting and must shake many hands to rise in the corporate ladder.
You are clearing out the garbage that has been gathering over the past day.
Through the course of a few minutes of a day you are exposed to trillions of germs that can cause various diseases that can make you sick, very sick. Now imagine how many germs you have collected through the course of the day when you touched things and people. Once done, imagine how they would have multiplied thanks to the warmth and moisture your hand. Once you have done that and are disgusted and scared enough, imagine cooking food for your family with those germs loaded hands and them eating it. Even more, imagine all those germs finding their way to your table when you are out to eat with your spouse and kids.
It most definitely forms a very repulsive picture, the kind and number of germs that our hands carry and the scale to which they can be spread. Now that you have somehow managed to digest the picture, think as to what degree of danger you and your loved ones are exposed to, due to bad hand hygiene.
After direct contact by hands, food is the simplest, fastest and most convenient way for germs to spread from one person and place to another and wreak havoc. Most diarrhea causing bacteria like salmonella, E.Colli, etc spread through food due to lack of hygiene. Preventing the spread of these harmful bacteria requires clean hands before and after handling food. Here is what can possibly happen when hand is not sanitized before and after handling food.
1.Before handling food: The people handling food have touched lots many people and things to collect enough bacteria to make you sick. Handling food without sanitizing them deposits the bacteria on your hand to the food, where the bacteria will eventually multiply and make someone fall sick if the cooking or cleaning process doesn't clean and or kill them before being consumed. Lack of hand hygiene simply makes what was once healthy food, unhealthy!
2. After handling food: Yes you maintain hand hygiene, however the food that you are handling and the people handling it before you possibly didn't. If the food you are handling contaminated with harmful bacteria, your hand s get contaminated when handling the food and then spread to other things and people you come in touch with. Say for example raw meats contain bacteria from animals, the slaughter houses and the people who handled it before you. The bacterial then spreads to your hands eventually increasing the area of contamination, thereby increasing the chances of people falling sick and spreading a possible epidemic.
Simply put, sanitizing hands before and after handling food is important so that healthy food remains healthy.
