Shall we perish along with home economics?
In a restaurant, a dish is presented with undercooked meat. The waiter bringing it hasn’t cleansed his hands in a few hours, and the accompanying cutlery isn’t clean either. Any of these ingredients could give the diner who just finished their dinner a case of rotavirus, norovirus, or salmonella and send them to bed for a few days.
That was the situation in 2016 as renowned Mexican dining establishment Wahaca1 was forced to close nine of its locations in London due to a possible norovirus epidemic. After 32 patrons in Oxfordshire fell unwell and one of them passed away from eating an overcooked shepherd’s pie last year, a chef was sentenced to two years in prison. Additionally, a Wiltshire pizzas and kebab shop3 was forced to close a few weeks ago due to a rabid insect epidemic.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) of the United Kingdom reports that there are more than 2.5 million situations4 of foodborne disease each year, 180 of which result in death. Sixty percent of food poisoning cases are thought to be related to restaurants and takeout.5.
These situations are typically the result of numerous food hygiene errors, the primary cause of which is frequently staff members’ ignorance of the different safety precautions. These include keeping meat and fish on different boards, keeping food refrigerated at the proper temperature, and not letting sick people handle food—all of which need to be done to prevent sickness.
The effects of disease on the sector
Similar to COVID-19, a widespread virus outbreak can cause severe harm and destruction to the food and beverage sector. It can result in restaurant closures, lost income and jobs, and even have an adverse effect on the local economy and the well-being of the workforce. For instance, studies conducted in Bangladesh revealed that the treatment of diarrhoea consumes almost 4% of the country’s gross domestic product per person.Six Additionally, the UK’s Office of National Statistics stated that the epidemic caused an £8 million drop in restaurant sales nationwide.
Even though this was a special case, there is no reason why a similar outbreak couldn’t occur in the future or that improper food handling couldn’t be the cause. The food and beverage industry must contribute to improving cleanliness in the industry by raising awareness and educating the next generation of industry professionals in order to stop that from happening.
The number of infections caused by diseases often spread by food decreased during the pandemic, according to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)8. That was undoubtedly caused by stay-at-home policies and restaurant closures, but the sector would be doing itself and its customers a great service if the momentum from that could be maintained and efforts made to keep numbers low.
instruction in foundations
The only way to apply health precautions at scale in a restaurant, cafe or bar is to have a thorough awareness of the best practices. Health and economies can only be optimally safeguarded when the requirements are comprehended, appropriate training is implemented, educational materials are disseminated, and the connection between proper hygiene and food intake is established.
These kinds of lessons were required to be taught in British schools years ago. The connection of preparing food, safety, and wellness was explained in a home science lesson. There was knowledge exchanged about how to keep food safe from pollution, preserve it to keep germs at at bay, and eliminate any potentially problematic bacteria.
Somewhere this learning component appears to have faded in recent years to a fortnightly elective in the food industry that focuses more on homemade baking techniques than on the biological causes of illness and the significance of food hygiene.
Home economics was once a vital component of school, but its elimination has left young people ignorant and unprepared. They don’t know that frozen mince cannot be microwaved, that meat and vegetables should be chopped and sliced on separate boards, or that rice should never be reheated more than once.
Without these, one could say “essential,” life skills, people put not only their own health at risk but also that of others if they work in the food and beverage industry. Because so few places provide in-depth or even basic training on the food and beverage industry, business owners sometimes have to rely on the staff’s common knowledge, which may or may not be true. Such large gaps in information could have detrimental effects on people’s health as
Raising the bar for hygiene in order to attract more qualified workers
It is necessary to make this right. Investments in and support of the reintroduction of food safety and hygiene standards in schools are in the best interests of the food and beverage sector. Future restaurant and bar employees may benefit from research on the obstacles to food safety, innovative measures to protect worker health, and strategies to reduce food-related sickness. With this knowledge, they will be better equipped to safeguard both consumers and the companies they work for.
Do employees, for instance, know how long and when to wash their hands? The CDC estimates that handwashing lowers the risk of respiratory diseases by 16–21% and diarrhoea by 23–40%.9. Does everyone know how many times they can reheat leftovers? Do workers realise how long food can stay fresh?
Even if they seem significant, such things are achievable. Despite experiencing a foodborne illness crisis in 2015 and 2016, the American fast food business Chipotle recently scored 10 above average on its pre-foodborne illness crisis average unit volume levels, demonstrating this.
The industry’s insurance may fund studies on how eateries can improve their safety regulations as well as the function of educational institutions. A new generation of highly skilled industry workers who can apply better food hygiene everywhere will be produced by more informed pupils, averting potential disease and upsetting the industry.
The Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute (RGHI) is advocating for this. A non-profit foundation that was established in 2020 with the goal of filling in the evidence gaps regarding hygiene practices and their effects, it seeks to amass a body of knowledge that can inform high-level decision-making. RGHI is striving to promote and fund a portfolio of hygiene science that will clearly outline a route forward for enhancing public health, thanks to a multi-year $25 million donation from Reckitt plc.
Maintaining good cleanliness greatly lowers health inequities and health expenditures, improves economies, and saves lives. In actuality, the annual projected cost of poor sanitation and hygiene is $222 billion11, which includes lost productivity, higher medical costs, and lower economic output.
To create a new model of education design that can be used by everybody, it is crucial to bring together the food and beverage industry with the health and science sectors. This is the first step in making sure that everyone understands the connection between the industry’s responsibility to protect global health and the safety of both persons and health systems.