What are acceptable practices to prepare ready-to-eat foods?
The use of utensils, tongs, deli paper or sanitary gloves is acceptable for preparing ready-to-eat food. May ready-to-eat foods be touched with bare hands if the hands are washed, or a germicidal soap or hand sanitizer is used? No. Although handwashing is effective in reducing contamination, people forget to wash their hands. In addition, hands are not always washed thoroughly. Germicidal soaps and hand sanitizers have not been proven effective in destroying viruses. What happens if gloves, tongs, deli paper or other utensils are not available to prepare ready-to-eat foods? If appropriate utensils are not available, ready-to-eat foods may not be prepared until bare hand contact with food can be prevented. If bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods is observed by health department inspectors, a violation will be recorded on the inspection report and enforcement action may be taken. Any ready-to-eat food that has been prepared with bare hands is considered to be contaminated and should
