A new report published this week by the CDC found that more than 40% of foodborne illness outbreaks at retail food establishments were linked to ill or infectious food workers.
The report, published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, identified 800 outbreaks among 875 restaurants that occurred between 2017 and 2019 and were reported to the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) by state and local health departments. Norovirus and Salmonella were the most common pathogens associated with the outbreaks.
Although most managers interviewed said that their establishment had a policy requiring food workers to notify their supervisors when they were ill, these policies were often missing components intended to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. The investigators called for better enforcement of food safety policies such as handwashing and keeping sick staff from working.
The report authors said that food workers report numerous reasons for working when ill, such as loss of pay and perceived social pressure to not leave establishments under-staffed. NEARS data demonstrated that only approximately 44% of restaurants provided paid sick leave to their workers, which means that many staff were showing up ill or infectious.
Only 16% of restaurants assessed had policies that included the four recommendations of the FDA Food Code, including policies that require food workers to inform a manager when they are ill, specify all five symptoms workers need to tell a manager about, and restrict or exclude ill or infectious workers from work.
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