Handwashing is an essential element for ensuring food safety, whether food is being processed or handled in a plant, prepared in a restaurant or foodservice outlet, or cooked at home.
If one looks at food poisoning outbreaks over the years, one will find that a significant number could be attributed to improper handling of food by employees. This is especially true when one looks at hepatitis outbreaks traced back to restaurants. In these cases, an infected food handler is usually found to have contributed to the outbreak via the fecal to oral route. Hepatitis is somewhat insidious, as an infected food handler who can transfer the virus may well be asymptomatic, which provides an impetus for ensuring workers practice good handwashing.