Health requirements for staff when handling food

The Infection Protection Act prescribes health requirements for staff in food processing companies. This is to prevent pathogens from being transferred to food and thus to other people.

The following persons may not work or be employed in the handling of food:

• Persons suffering from or suspected of suffering from typhoid abdominalis, paratyphoid fever, cholera, shigella 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:
  • Shigella
  • Salmonella
  • enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli
  • Cholera vibrios

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

• Meat, poultry meat and products thereof
• Milk and milk-based products
• Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and products thereof
• Egg products
• Baby and infant food
• Ice cream and semi-ice cream products
• Baked goods with fillings or toppings that are not baked through or heated through
• Delicatessen, raw vegetable and potato salads, marinades, mayonnaises, emulsified sauces and nutritional yeasts
• Sprouts and germ buds for raw consumption and seeds for the production of sprouts and germ buds for raw consumption

Note: Provided that measures are taken to prevent the transmission of the diseases to the foodstuffs, the health authority may issue exemptions from these prohibitions on activities and employment.

Instruction and certification

Instruction and certification in accordance with the Infection Protection Act is required for handling food.