Germs? Not This Week!

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We are right in the middle of national handwashing awareness week!

But why is this important for nutrition?

Food safety is an important component of nutrition and health. Without it, our nutritious foods could make us sick. Food safety includes good personal hygiene, correct temperature of the food, preventing cross contamination, and many other safe practices for preparing food. Handwashing is one of the cheapest and easiest food safety practices you can follow.

Some food-related illnesses are spread by not washing hands correctly. You need soap and clean water to properly wash hands. If soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is the next best thing! Sanitizer is not as effective as soap and water, but it is better than nothing. There are five steps to proper handwashing:

Wet hands first before applying soap

Lather soap on the front and back of your hands and underneath your nails

Scrub for at least 20 seconds (you can recite the alphabet or sing happy birthday twice)

Rinse with clean, running water

Dry hands with a clean towel

How you wash your hands isn’t the only important thing to remember. You also need to know when to wash your hands. Some of the situations in which handwashing is necessary are after using the restroom, caring for a sick person, handling garbage, touching a pet or animal, blowing your nose, using the phone, and of course, before preparing and eating food. Washing hands between preparing different types of foods is also important, such as in between touching raw chicken and preparing a salad.

Nobody wants to get sick, so make sure your hands are squeaky clean!

AC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016). When & how to wash your hands. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html.

Klemm, S (2018). Hand-washing. Retrieved from: https://www.eatright.org/homefoodsafety/four-steps/wash/hand-washing.

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