Health requirements for staff when handling food

Section 42 "Prohibitions on activities and employment" of the Infection Protection Act stipulates certain health requirements for personnel in food processing plants, as some pathogens are transferred to food and can thus be transmitted to other people.

The following persons shall not be employed in the manufacture, handling or placing on the market of foodstuffs:

• Persons suffering from or suspected of having typhoid fever, paratyphoid, cholera, dysentery, salmonellosis, types of infectious gastroenteritis or viral hepatitis A or E
• Persons who have infected wounds or skin diseases whose pathogens are transmissible through food
• Persons who excrete the following pathogens:
  o Shigellen
  o Salmonella
  o enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli
  o Choleravibrios

The following foods are considered foods within the meaning of the Infection Protection Act:

• Meat, poultrymeat and products thereof
• Milk and dairy products
• Fish, crabs, molluscs and products thereof
• Egg products
• Infant and toddler food
• Ice-cream and ice-cream semi-finished products
• Bakers' wares with unbaked or heated filling or topping
• Delicatessen, raw and potato salads, marinades, mayonnaises, emulsified sauces and food yeasts

Hint: If measures are taken to prevent the transmission of the diseases to food, the health authority may allow exceptions to these prohibitions of activity and employment.
As soon as you suspect one of the above-mentioned diseases, you are obliged to inform your employer immediately.

Instruction and certificate

For the handling of food, instruction and certification according to the Infection Protection Act is required.