What is required at every hand washing sink?

Food handlers must, whenever washing their hands:

use the hand washing facilities provided;
thoroughly clean their hands using liquid soap and warm running water; and
thoroughly dry their hands on a single use towel (see Standard 3.2.2 cl 15(4) of the Code).

Food handlers are prohibited from using sinks that have been allocated for purposes other than hand washing. For example food preparation sinks should not be used for hand washing as this may cause the sink to become contaminated and the safety of the food could be compromised.

Soap helps remove grease, dirt and transient bacteria from hands. Food handlers must use liquid soap to wash their hands. The use of hand sanitiser or bar soap is not an acceptable means of hand washing.

There is no set temperature for ‘warm’ running water, however approximately 40oC is considered appropriate.

To reduce the presence of bacteria food handlers are required to thoroughly dry their hands after hand washing. It is not sufficient for food handlers to give their hands a quick wipe with a reusable towel. Recent studies have found that single-use paper towels can dry hands efficiently, remove bacteria effectively, and cause less contamination of the washroom environment. For hygiene reasons, paper towels are superior to air dryers; therefore, paper towel is required for hand drying. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538484/)

Single-use towels include disposable towels as well as reusable towels. However, if reusable towels are used for hand drying, they can only be used once and must be washed and dried before being reused.

Page 2

Standard 3.2.3 cl 14 of the Code requires food premises to have hand washing facilities that are located where they can be easily accessed by food handlers:

within areas where food handlers work if their hands are likely to be a source of contamination of food; and
if there are toilets on the food premises — immediately adjacent to the toilet or toilet cubicles (see Standard 3.2.3 cl 14(1) of the Code).

Accessible hand washing facilities enable and encourage food handlers to use them. The requirement ensures that there are facilities in areas where unprotected food is handled, for example in food preparation areas. In the kitchen of a food premises a food handler should not have to travel more than 5 metres to the nearest hand washing basin.

For example, if a takeaway has two food handling areas, one in the main kitchen and another in a front service area, a designated hand wash basin would be required in both areas

In large food production factories or where there are special circumstances longer distances may be appropriate.

Hand washing facilities are only required in areas where food handlers handle food and their hands are likely to be a source of contamination. For example a forklift driver involved in moving packaged food in a warehouse is classified as a food handler under the Code. However, the driver’s hands are not a source of contamination of food and no hand washing facilities are necessary in the warehouse.

Page 3

Hand washing facilities must be:

permanent fixtures;
connected to, or otherwise provided with, a supply of warm, running potable water;
of a size that allows easy and effective hand washing; and
clearly designated for the sole purpose of washing hands, arms and faces (see Standard 3.2.3 cl 14(2) of the Code).

All hand washing facilities must be permanent fixtures unless the premise is temporary.

All hand washing facilities must be supplied with warm running water. If a separate hot and cold water supply is provided, a mixer tap or common outlet is required.

Hand washing facilities must be big enough to enable them to be used by food handlers. There must be enough distance under the water spout for food handlers to have room to effectively wash their hands, arms and face.

In regard to basin size, for guidance purposes only, a basin of 11 litres capacity with minimum dimensions of 500 mm by 400 mm ‘off the wall’ will be adequate for most food handlers.

‘Designated’ means that the facilities must be identifiable in some way that indicates that they are for the sole purpose of washing hands, arms and face (e.g. a sign that says ‘hand wash basin’ placed above the basin).

Page 4

Standard 2.2.2 cl 3 requires E.g.gs for retail sale or catering purposes to be individually marked with the producers’ or processors’ unique identification to ensure traceability.

Standard 2.7.1 provides labelling requirements for alcoholic beverages and food containing alcohol.

Part 1.2 of the Food Standards Code sets out the labelling requirements for food identification, labelling of ingredients, directions of use, nutritional claims, nutritional information, legibility and country of origin requirements.

Standard 1.2.3.sets out mandatory advisory and warning statements and declarations which must be made in relation to certain foods or foods containing certain substances (e.g. ‘This food contains peanuts and peanut products’).

It is the food business’ responsibility to understand and comply with all labelling requirements in the Code.

Page 5

Sections 110 and 111 of the Food Act require the following businesses to display kilojoule information at the point of sale:

a food business that sells Standard Food Items; and
the business is a Standard Food Outlet; and
the business is part of a chain/franchise/group that sells Standard Food Items at 7 or more places in the ACT or at 50 or more places in Australia.

Standard Food Items are items of ready-to-eat food that are sold in standardised servings. They may be listed or otherwise shown on a menu (e.g. picture display) or they may be displayed for sale with a tag or label (e.g. price tag, name tag, etc).

Note: Prepacked serves of salad, sandwiches, pies or sushi that are prepared and packaged offsite and sold in the same packaging must comply with the labelling requirements for packaged foods.

A food business is a Standard Food Outlet if:

(a) the food business sells Standard Food Items at other premises or while operating in a chain of food businesses that sell Standard Food Items; and
(b) at least one of the Standard Food Items sold by the business is also sold at another of its outlets or by other food businesses in the chain.

When displaying the nutritional information it must be:

clearly legible
expressed in ‘kJ’
in the same font, and at least the same font size, as the price (or if no price is displayed,
the same font/size as the name of the item)
adjacent to, or in close proximity to, the name or price of the item.

If Standard Food Items are displayed on the menu and a tag, the kilojoule content needs to be displayed on both the menu and the tag.

Page 6

The Code places the obligation on the proprietor of the food business, not the individual employees, to ensure that food handlers and supervisors have the relevant skills and knowledge to do their work (see Standard 3.2.2 c3 of the Code). Therefore, in the first instance, the skills and knowledge of staff at the business should be discussed with the proprietor.

The Standard specifies that skills and knowledge are only required to a level that corresponds with the work activities of the food handler. The skills and knowledge required of a cook will be different from those of a waitress or a cleaner.

In assessing whether a food business is complying with this requirement, consideration will be given to whether the business generally complies with the food safety and hygiene requirements of the Code. If the business is generally compliant, there is a high likelihood that food handlers and supervisors have the appropriate skills and knowledge to handle food safely. If the business is not complying with certain requirements, this may be evidence that the skills and knowledge of food handlers and supervisors within the business are not adequate and further training may be needed.

During an inspection, proprietors, managers and/or food handlers will be asked relevant questions to be assessed against this requirement.

Page 7

Page 8

If a food handler is suffering from a condition, a foodborne disease, has symptoms of a foodborne disease or is a carrier of a foodborne disease, a food business must ensure that they do not engage in any food handling that could contaminate the food (see Standard 3.2.2 cl 16 of the Code).

If a decision has been made to restrict a person from certain duties, the person may only resume those duties when advice is received from a medical practitioner that the person is no longer suffering from or carrying the foodborne disease.

A food business must ensure that a person who is known or suspected to be suffering from a foodborne disease and continues to engage in food handling takes all practical measures to prevent food contamination. Practical measures that a person can take include:

completely covering infected skin lesions with bandages or dressings and, if the skin lesion is on an exposed part of his or her body, covering the bandage or dressing with a waterproof covering (this may not always be practical, particularly with acne);
avoiding touching the infected skin lesion, or discharge from ear, nose or eye;
washing and drying hands thoroughly if direct contact is made with an infected skin lesion or discharge;
using medication to dry up discharges from the ear, nose or eye; and
using disposable tissues to mop up any discharge, followed by thoroughly washing and drying hands.