Retail Food Safety Forum

Combating Norovirus Hazards in Retail Food Service – Part 3

By Dan Okenu, Ph.D.
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July 31, 2014


• Categories: Compliance, Foodservice & Retail, Retail Food Safety Forum

In the past two weeks, this blog has covered how Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide, some potential sources of outbreak, and the importance of proper handwashing, developing an employee health policy, building a comprehensive food safety program, and training of employees. One critical aspect of Norovirus management is proper attention paid to cleaning and disposal of body fluids.

Proper cleaning and disposal of body fluids

The food code requires that retail foodservice establishments have proper procedures in place for emergency body fluids clean-up. Body fluids incidents in the dining room, play areas or back of the house are arguably the single most important source of Norovirus cross contamination in the restaurant, if clean-up and disposal are not performed according to standard operating procedures. The components of an effective and compliant SOP for emergency body fluids clean-up may include the following:

• Written step by step procedure to contain, isolate, clean and disinfect affected areas;
• Ready and easily accessible emergency body fluid clean-up kit;
• Use of PPEs like disposable aprons, gloves and protective eye glasses;
• Norovirus approved disinfectant as a kill step before and after clean-up;
• Containment of body fluids spill using absorbent yellow spill pads to reduce aerosols;
• Affected area should be isolated to avoid accidental dispersal by guests;
• Discard all affected open food and decontaminate all affected surfaces;
• Stop all food prep until body fluids are contained, cleaned and affected area disinfected;
• Perform clean-up with disposable towels and yellow spill pads for easy disposal;
• Wear triple gloves to avoid contaminating the clean-up kit and storage area;
• Dispose clean-up trash straight in outside dumpster without passing through kitchen; and
• Employee must wash hands twice, first in the bathroom and then in the kitchen.

The pathogen kill-step is the most important step in the body fluid clean-up process. The preferred option is to use a disinfectant grade chemical instead of regular sanitizers.

Ecolab’s Insta-Use Multi-purpose Disinfectant Cleaner is effective against Norovirus (and other viruses), mold, mildew and bacteria. It cleans, deodorizes and disinfects in one labor saving step and packaged in an easy to use compact cartridge with less storage space requirement. Caution: Disinfectant is not approved for food contact surfaces and cannot be used as a replacement for regular sanitizers on food contact surfaces.

Proper training of team members and associates is required before use to encourage compliance.

In conclusion, Norovirus is still a major infectious pathogen associated with foodservice operations in spite of several regulatory control and technological advances to curtail its occurrence and prevalence. Until a viable vaccine or an effective drug becomes available against Norovirus, rigorous implementation of food safety procedures, behavioral changes and continuous training of both foodservice workers and customers will remain the industry’s best practices at prevention and control. Overall, it makes a lot of business sense to do all that it takes to protect your customers against the threat of Norovirus infection, and by so doing, equally protect your business brand and the entire public health.