Tell the person in charge if you have

  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Jaundice (yellow skin or eyes)
  • Sore throat with fever
  • A cut, boil or sore with pus that isn't covered the right way

You won't be penalized for reporting.

Sources: Food Code 2-201.11 · Source protocols: food employee reporting agreement (workers are kept from food work when ill, without penalty)

The Big 6 illnesses

Tell the person in charge if a doctor says you have, or someone in your home has:

  • Norovirus
  • Hepatitis A
  • Shigella
  • Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)
  • Salmonella Typhi (typhoid)
  • Nontyphoidal Salmonella

Also report typhoid in the past 3 months if you did not get antibiotics.

The person in charge reports a diagnosed foodborne illness to the county health department.

Sources: Food Code 2-201.11 · Food Code 8-501.10(C) (Utah amendment: illness reporting under R386-702 and R386-703)

Were you exposed? Report that too

Exposed means you ate food linked to an outbreak, were somewhere with an outbreak, or live with someone who is sick. Report it if your last exposure was within:

  • Norovirus: 48 hours
  • Shigella: 3 days
  • STEC: 3 days
  • Typhoid: 14 days
  • Hepatitis A: 30 days

The Food Code requires keeping exposed workers who feel well off food only where a highly susceptible group is served (child care, nursing home, hospital). The safer choice is to stay off ready-to-eat food until the window passes, or ask your county health department.

Sources: Food Code 2-201.11 · Food Code 2-201.12(J)

Exclude or restrict?

Exclude = no work in the food business at all. Restrict = no work with open food, clean dishes and utensils, linens or unwrapped single-use items. Other jobs (cleaning, trash, paperwork) are OK.

Exclude for:

  • Vomiting or diarrhea
  • Jaundice that began in the last 7 days, or diagnosed hepatitis A
  • Diagnosed typhoid, or typhoid in the past 3 months
  • Diagnosed norovirus, Shigella or STEC with symptoms

Restrict for:

  • Diagnosed norovirus, Shigella or STEC with no symptoms
  • Diagnosed nontyphoidal Salmonella with no symptoms
  • Sore throat with fever
  • A pus-filled sore that isn't covered

Where a highly susceptible group is served, some of these become exclude instead of restrict.

Sources: Food Code 2-201.12

Health check-in before every shift

Answer yes or no before you touch food:

  • Vomiting or diarrhea in the last 24 hours?
  • Jaundice?
  • Sore throat with fever?
  • Diagnosed with a Big 6 illness?
  • Uncovered wound on your hands?

Yes to any one means no food work today.

If you get sick during a shift, stop food work right away. Food you handled is thrown out.

Sources: Source protocols: symptom check-in questions before every shift; a worker who becomes ill leaves food work immediately and food they handled is discarded · Food Code 2-201.11

The rules behind it

  • Employee health: report, exclude, restrict. Food workers report vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, pus-filled sores, Big 6 diagnoses and exposures; the person in charge excludes or restricts. Food Code 2-201.11, 2-201.12, 2-201.13; R392-102-15(4)