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santypan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> \nSick restaurant workers cause a significant portion of foodborne illness outbreaks, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say a contributing factor to the outbreaks is a lack of comprehensive policies\u2014including paid sick leave\u2014for ill and infectious employees.\n<\/p>\n \nThe data comes from a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report <\/em>(MMWR<\/em>), dated June 2, which looked at foodborne illness outbreaks reported to the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS), between 2017 and 2019, by 25 participating state and local governments.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nDuring that two-year period, a total of 800 outbreaks associated with 875 retail food establishments were reported to NEARS. Among those 800 outbreaks, investigators were able to identify at least one contributing factor in 500 of the reported outbreaks\u2014of those 500, 41% (205) were associated with sick workers.\n<\/p>\n \nThe most common cause of illness was norovirus, accounting for 47% of outbreaks with an identifiable agent; Salmonella<\/em> was the next most common, accounting for nearly 19% of outbreaks.\n<\/p>\n \nAccording to study authors, retail food establishments should adopt more comprehensive food safety policies in order to help prevent foodborne illness outbreaks. \u201cIll workers continue to play a substantial role in retail food establishment outbreaks,\u201d the authors of the report wrote, \u201cand comprehensive ill worker policies will likely be necessary to mitigate this public health problem.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Most common:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Less common:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nIn addition to looking at foodborne illness outbreaks and their causes, the investigators of the report also interviewed 725 managers at some of the outbreak sites.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIn most of the outbreaks included in this report, the restaurant lacked policies that required workers with certain symptoms to notify their manager and stay home or not work with food,\u201d lead study author Erin Moritz, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Health.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nMost of the managers confirmed that their establishments had policies requiring food workers to tell their manager when they were sick (92%), and restricting ill workers from working (86%). Almost two-thirds of these managers said those policies were explicitly written down.\n<\/p>\n \nBut when it came to specific symptoms that either required reporting or excluded workers from working, less than one-fifth of managers said their policies listed all five symptoms recommended by the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s Food Code: vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, and\/or an open or draining lesion containing pus.\n<\/p>\n \nThe study authors noted that written policies are more effective in preventing illness than policies that are verbally communicated, but those requirements alone are \u201cunlikely to markedly reduce incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks in retail establishments\u201d\u2014managers have to actually implement the policies and workers have to actually comply with them to be effective.\n<\/p>\n What Is a Stomach Virus?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nExperts say compliance is more complicated than just giving people a list of symptoms to report and telling them stay home when they\u2019re sick. It\u2019s important to note that many food handlers are paid hourly, and calling out of work means taking a pay cut; and managers often have to find a replacement quickly for sick worker.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOne thing that the CDC does not touch on is sick leave policy,\u201d Donald Schaffner, PhD, a quantitative microbial risk assessment expert and professor at Rutgers University, told Health<\/em>. \u201cIf someone is working a job and they don\u2019t get paid if they call in sick, that represents a strong incentive to work while sick.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBecause of this, it\u2019s also likely that sick employees\u2014and foodborne illnesses caused by them\u2014are much more common than the new research might suggest. \u201cWe are only looking at reported and validated data,\u201d Darin Detwiler, LPD, an associate professor of food safety at Northeastern University, told Health<\/em>. \u201cMany times, not only do employees and consumers not report their illnesses, but the CDC estimates that, for every case of foodborne illness reported, a large number go unreported.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nUltimately, study authors said restaurants and other food establishments should consider implementing comprehensive policies for sick workers with a focus on compliance. \u201cTo help alleviate these issues, the food service industry can foster a work environment that encourages workers to stay home when sick, by considering measures such as paid sick leave and good staffing plans,\u201d Moritz said.\n<\/p>\n \nSchaffner added that \u201censuring workers [earn] a living wage with appropriate paid sick leave policy will go a long way to addressing this problem.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThese policies\u2014including potential paid sick leave\u2014should also not be viewed as an employee perk, but as an integral part of business. \u201cThis should not be viewed as a benefit,\u201d Detwiler said, \u201cbut as a requirement for the benefit of employees, of the company and their reputation, and of consumers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Stomach Flu vs. Food Poisoning: How To Tell the Difference<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nAlthough the symptoms of norovirus and other foodborne illnesses are far from subtle, viruses and bacteria can end up on your food without your knowledge in a restaurant setting. \u201cWe are talking about invisible dangers and about information regarding employees that consumers are unlikely to know,\u201d Detwiler said.\n<\/p>\n \nThe only way to fully protect yourself from restaurant foodborne illness is to avoid eating anything other than food prepared in your own home\u2014but that\u2019s unrealistic for many people. You can, however, consider a restaurant\u2019s reputation before choosing to dine there.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIf consumers are aware of companies that have repeated violations or that are tied to outbreaks, perhaps they can be avoided,\u201d Detwiler said.\n<\/p>\n \nAdditionally, Moritz suggests checking inspection scores of the restaurants you commonly visit, which can be found on your local health department\u2019s website.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd while it should go without saying, if you see someone vomit in a restaurant\u2014whether it\u2019s a customer or staffer\u2014Schaffner recommends you leave immediately. \u201cUnlike many other foodborne diseases,\u201d Schaffner said, \u201cWe know that norovirus can also spread through vomit as well as diarrhea.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sick restaurant workers cause a significant portion of foodborne illness outbreaks, according to new data from the CDC. The most common cause of illness was norovirus, accounting for more than 47% of outbreaks with an identifiable agent. Experts say more comprehensive policies for ill and infectious employees\u2014including paid sick leave\u2014may help reduce outbreaks. santypan\/Getty Images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,1025],"tags":[116,1026],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nWhat Are the Symptoms of Norovirus?<\/h3>\n
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A Lack of Comprehensive Food Safety Policies <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Paid Sick Leave May Help Reduce Outbreaks <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Protecting Against an Invisible Threat <\/span> <\/h2>\n