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1. What is a manager's responsibility for ensuring employees are trained on reporting of symptoms & diagnosis of foodborne illness?

The manager or Person in Charge (PIC) is to make certain that food employees are trained on the subject of the:

• Causes of foodborne illness
• Relationship between the food employee's job task, personal hygiene, and foodborne illness
• Requirement for reporting
• Specific symptoms, diagnoses, and exposures that must be reported to the PIC

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

2. What is a manager's responsibility regarding informing food employees of their reporting requirements?

Management should explain to food employees the importance of reporting specific symptoms and any diagnosis or exposures to foodborne illness. Things to be reported to management include:

• Vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, or any exposed boil or open, infected wounds, burns or cuts to the hands or arms
• An illness diagnosed by a health practitioner that was caused by: Salonella Typhi or typhoid like fever, Shigella spp., Norovirus, Hepatitis A, E. coli O157:H7 or other Enterohemorrhagic or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.
• Past illnesses with typhoid like fever within the past 3 months, unless treated with antibiotics
• Exposure to typhoid-like fever, shigellosis, Norovirus, Hepatitis A virus, E. coli O157:H7 or other Enterohemorrhagic or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or eating or serving food that was implicated in a foodborne illness outbreak or if residing with a diagnosed individual.

See Form 1-B and refer to Guide 3-C in Annex 7 of the 2009 Food Code

3. What should a manager do when a food employee has or reports an exposed or infected would that is open and/or draining on the hands or arm?

(See Decision Tree 1 and Table 1a)

Restrict any employee from working with food that has an infected skin lesion with pus, like a boil or infected wound that is not properly covered. The manager can lift the restriction once the infected area is properly covered or healed.

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

4. What should a manager do when a food employee reports symptoms of jaundice?

(See Decision Tree 1 and Table 1a)

• Have the food employee stop work immediately
• Inquire about how long the employee has been experiencing jaundice or associated symptoms of jaundice
• Have the food employee leave the food establishment if he or she has had jaundice or has been experiencing symptoms of jaundice for less than 7 days
• Report cases of jaundice to the regulatory authority and have the food employee's return to work approved by a regulatory authority

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

5. What should a manager do when a food employee reports symptoms of sore throat with fever?

(See Decision Tree 1 and Table 1a)

• Place the employee on restricted duty, that is, not working with or around food
• Allow food employees to return to work with written medical documentation from a health practitioner
• If the food employee works in a facility that services Highly Susceptible Populations (HSP), exclude the food employee from the food establishment

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

6. What should a manager do when a food employee reports symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea?

(See Decision Tree 1 and Table 1a or {if diagnosed} Table 1b)

• Ask the food employee to stop work immediately and leave the food establishment. The employee is not permitted to return until at least 24 hours after vomiting and diarrhea have ended.

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook

7. What symptoms of foodborne illness should food establishments be most concerned about?

Food establishments should be most concerned about the following symptoms:

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Jaundice (yellow skin or eyes)
• Sore throat with fever
• Infected cuts and burns with pus on hands or wrists

FDA Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook