Personal Hygiene and Household
Cleanliness
 What are some good personal hygiene practices that
you use....or should use?
 Washing your hands and food, and keeping your house
clean
Washing Your Hands to Reduce the
Spread of Disease
 Washing hands = single most effective way to prevent
infectious disease
 Hands spread 80% of infectious disease ie) common
cold, flu
 When should you wash your hands?
a. Before and after preparing meals and eating
b. After using the washroom
c. After handling pets
d. After blowing your nose or coughing and sneezing
• What is considered proper practice for sneezing now?
Washing Hands
 Need three things:
a. Water
b. Soap – soap does not kill germs
c. Rubbing of Hands – kills germs with soap and water
because it helps to break down the dirt and grease
that germs cling to
Washing Hands
 Public Health Agency of Canada
 Antibacterial soaps and household cleaners are not
better at preventing the spread of common illnesses
than regular soaps and cleaners
 Antibiotic resistance: overuse of antibacterial soaps
and cleaners resulting in antibiotic drugs and
disinfectants no longer able to kill micro-organisms
that cause disease
 can use alcohol-based cleaners

Kill both good and bad bacteria
Washing Hands
Washing Hands
1. Wet hands: Remove all rings or other jewellery, and
wet your hands with warm running water.
2. Soap: Put a small amount of liquid soap in the palm of
one hand. If using bar soap, set it on a rack so it does
not sit in water. Bar soaps that stay moist attract germs.
3. Lather: Scrub your hands together. Make sure to scrub
between your fingers, under your fingernails, and the
backs of your hands. Do this for about 20 seconds (this
is about the same time it takes to sing a short song like
“Happy Birthday” twice).
Washing Hands
4.Rinse: Rinse your hands with warm running water for
at least 10 seconds. Try not to handle the faucets in
public washrooms once your hands are clean. Use a
paper towel to turn off the water.
5.Dry: If you are in a public washroom, dry your hands
with a single-use paper towel or air dryer. Protect them
from touching dirty surfaces as you leave the
washroom. If you are at home using a hand towel, be
sure to change it daily. At home during cold and flu
season, each member of your family could have their
own hand towel.
Washing Hand
Good and simple hygiene practices to stop spread of
germs at home, work, school:
 Disinfect your kitchen sink and counters daily using
bleach, ammonia, alcohol, or vinegar-based cleaners.
(Cleaning with soap removes dirt. Disinfecting kills
germs.)
 Regularly disinfect your bathroom, including all
doorknobs and faucets.
 Regularly disinfect your desk and computer keyboard,
and avoid eating at your desk.
Washing Hands
 Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and
mouth.
 Cough or sneeze into your elbow instead of your
hands.
 Do not share pens, cups, glasses, dishes, or cutlery at
school or work.
 Do not pick up magazines and newspapers in doctors’
waiting rooms, staff kitchens, or on public transit.
 Stay at home if you are sick to avoid spreading germs
to other people.
Foodborne Illness and Safe Food
Handling
 11-13 million Canadians each year suffer from
foodborne illnesses
 Foodborne Illness: person gets sick from eating food
that has been contaminated with an unwanted microorganism or pathogen = Food Poisoning
 Symptoms: stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea, fever....as well as death
 Example: Botulism Poisoning – poorly preserved food;
result in respiratory failure and death
Foodborne Illness and Safe Food
Handling Practices
 Hard to control because most food is produced and
processed in large amounts by big corporations and/or
is imported
 Once in food processing plant, can cross-contaminate
other food
 All of these factors lead to a greater chance of
foodborne bacteria being spread to a large number of
people
Foodborne Illness and Safe Food
Handling Practices
 New types of foodborne bacteria are being identified
 Example: Listeria Monocyogenes – causes Listeriosis
 Contaminated meat products – Maple Leaf Foods recall
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
 In Canada, federal, provincial, and municipal levels of
government are responsible for public health and food
safety
 Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA):
 Set rules for how food is processed and sold
 Tests for safety and warns public if discover unsafe food
products
 http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/toce.shtml
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
 Bacteria can survive food processing
 Food can also become contaminated during
preparation, cooking, storage
 Safe food handling practices = covers how you buy,
store, handle and prepare food
 Bacteria grow between 4-60 degrees Celsius
 Keeping food cold (below 4 degrees C) slows growth of
bacteria
 Freezing food (below 18 degrees C) stop from growing
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
 Freezing bacteria wont kill it, need to cook food to kill
it
Food
Temperature (°C)
Beef, veal, and lamb (medium-rare)
63
Beef, veal, and lamb (well done)
77
Pork
71
Poultry (e.g., chicken, turkey, duck), pieces
74
Poultry, whole
85
Egg dishes
74
Other foods (e.g., hot dogs, stuffing,
74
leftovers)
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
Clean:
 Always wash your hands, utensils, and cooking
surfaces before handling food, while you prepare it,
and after you are finished.
 Disinfect kitchen surfaces and utensils.
 Wash fruits and vegetables with fresh cool running
water before preparing and eating them. Use a brush
to scrub produce with firm or rough surfaces (e.g.,
potatoes, carrots).
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
Separate:
 Keep meats and their juices separated from other food
in the refrigerator and during preparation.
 Keep separate cutting boards and utensils for raw
meats and vegetables/fruits.
 Always keep food covered in the refrigerator.
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
Chill:
 After grocery shopping, refrigerate fruits and
vegetables quickly.
 Keep your refrigerator at the proper temperature (≤ 4
°C).
 Keep your freezer at the proper temperature (≤ -18 °C).
 Refrigerate/freeze leftovers and prepared food within
two hours.
Foodborne Illness and Safe
Handling Practices
Cook:
 Prepare food quickly.
 Cook food to a safe internal temperature and serve it
immediately.
 Do not let food sit out at temperatures where bacteria
can grow (between 4 and 60 °C).
Indoor Air Quality
 Indoor air pollutants can be biological and chemical
 Biological: mould, bacteria, dust mites
 Chemical: volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
household products; gases and particles from fuelburning appliances (furnace, gas stoves, tobacco
smoke, building materials, outdoor air)
Indoor Air Quality
Health Canada
 3 main ways that should be used together to improve
indoor air quality
1.
Source control – preventing pollutants from getting into
the air
a. Avoid smoking indoors.
b. Keep your home clean by dusting and vacuuming regularly.
c. Keep your home dry. Control the degree of moisture in the
air, or the humidity, by using a humidifier. Fix anything in
the house that causes dampness and allows mould to grow.
Indoor Air Quality
d. Make sure all of the fuel-burning appliances in the
house are working properly.
e. Avoid idling cars and lawnmowers in attached garages.
f. Reduce off-gassing of household materials and
products by using/installing paints, cleaning products,
insulation, carpets, and other household products
containing fewer VOCs.
Indoor Air Quality
2. Increase ventilation – moving outdoor air indoors;
decreases stale air and reduce indoor air pollutants
a. opening windows and doors;
b. turning on kitchen and bathroom fans;
c. installing mechanical heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning systems (HVACs) that can bring in
outdoor air, vent stale air, circulate air, and control
temperature and humidity.
Indoor Air Quality
3. Air Cleaning – remove impurities from air; some
remove particles, not as good at removing gases
i. Ion generators – portable units that use static
charges to trap particles
ii. Electronic air cleaners – use electrical field to trap
particles