Fingernail Care and Food Safety: What Food Handlers Need to Know

Fingernail care is an important part of proper food safety. For restaurant employees, food handlers, cooks, servers, and anyone who works with food, keeping fingernails clean and properly maintained can help prevent contamination and protect customers.

If you work in a restaurant or food establishment in Westchester County, NY, Connecticut, or New Jersey, understanding proper hand and fingernail care should be part of your everyday food safety routine.

At Westchester Food Safety, we teach food handlers and food managers the importance of proper personal hygiene, handwashing, glove use, and contamination prevention through ServSafe food safety training.

Why Is Fingernail Care Important in Food Safety?

Your hands come into contact with food, utensils, equipment, containers, and many different surfaces throughout the workday. Fingernails can collect dirt, bacteria, and other contaminants if they are not properly maintained.

Food handlers should understand that clean hands do not necessarily mean clean fingernails. Dirt and microorganisms can become trapped underneath fingernails, creating another potential source of food contamination.

Proper fingernail care should therefore be part of a restaurant's overall personal hygiene and food safety program.

Keep Fingernails Short and Clean

One of the simplest ways to maintain good fingernail hygiene is to keep fingernails trimmed, clean, and easy to maintain.

Long or dirty fingernails can make proper handwashing more difficult. Food handlers should pay particular attention to the areas underneath their fingernails when washing their hands.

A good food safety routine includes:

• Keeping fingernails trimmed.

• Keeping fingernails clean.

• Washing hands properly and frequently.

• Cleaning underneath fingernails during handwashing.

• Avoiding behaviors that can contaminate the hands.

• Changing gloves when necessary.

• Never relying on gloves as a substitute for handwashing.

Fingernails and Handwashing

Proper handwashing is one of the most important food safety practices in any restaurant.

Food handlers should wash their hands at the appropriate times, including before beginning food preparation and whenever their hands may have become contaminated.

When washing your hands, make sure you clean:

• Palms

• Backs of hands

• Between fingers

• Fingertips

• Around the fingernails

• Under the fingernails

Simply putting your hands under running water is not proper handwashing.

Food safety requires a complete handwashing procedure using the appropriate soap, water, friction, rinsing, and drying steps.

Can Food Handlers Wear Nail Polish?

Food establishments should follow the applicable food code and health department requirements regarding fingernail polish and artificial nails.

Under the FDA Food Code framework used as a basis for many food safety regulations, food employees generally should not wear fingernail polish or artificial fingernails when working with exposed food unless they are wearing intact gloves.

THERE IS NO YES OR NO ANSER IN MANY CASES AS LONG AS THE FOOD HANDLER IS WEARING GLOVES IT IS ALLOWED, IN SOME CASES NO, PLEASE SPEAK WITH YOUR HEALTH INSPECTOR.

Because local regulations can vary, restaurant owners and managers should always verify the requirements that apply to their specific establishment.

What About Artificial Fingernails?

Artificial fingernails can create additional food safety concerns when employees are handling exposed food.

A food handler working with exposed food needs to make sure that fingernail products do not create a contamination risk.

Restaurants should have clear policies explaining when gloves are required and when employees need to wash their hands and change gloves.

Gloves Do Not Replace Handwashing

One of the most important food safety lessons is:

Gloves are not a replacement for handwashing.

Food handlers must wash their hands before putting on gloves when required by the food code and workplace procedures.

Gloves can also become contaminated just like hands.

Food employees should change gloves when they become dirty, damaged, contaminated, or when changing tasks requires a new pair.

For example, an employee should not prepare ready-to-eat food with gloves that were previously used to handle raw food.

Fingernail Care and Ready-to-Eat Foods

Extra care should be taken when preparing ready-to-eat foods.

Ready-to-eat foods are foods that generally will not receive another cooking step before being served to the customer.

Examples can include:

• Sandwiches

• Salads

• Garnishes

• Cooked foods ready for service

• Bakery products

• Certain fruits and vegetables

Because these foods may not receive another cooking step to destroy contaminants, proper hand hygiene, glove use, and personal hygiene are extremely important.

Fingernail Care Is Part of Personal Hygiene

Fingernail care should not be viewed as an isolated requirement. It is one part of a larger restaurant food safety program.

Good personal hygiene includes:

• Proper handwashing

• Clean fingernails

• Appropriate hair restraints

• Clean clothing

• Proper glove use

• Reporting illness

• Avoiding bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods when prohibited

• Preventing cross-contamination

• Preventing cross-contact with allergens

  
  

Every food employee has a responsibility to help prevent food contamination.

Restaurant Managers Should Train Employees

Restaurant managers and food safety managers should make fingernail care part of employee training.

Employees should understand why these requirements exist rather than simply being told what to do.

A simple restaurant policy can remind employees:

KEEP FINGERNAILS CLEAN AND TRIMMED.WASH HANDS PROPERLY.FOLLOW GLOVE PROCEDURES.WHEN IN DOUBT, ASK A MANAGER.

Consistent training can help create a stronger food safety culture throughout the establishment.

ServSafe Food Safety Training in Westchester County and Connecticut

Understanding personal hygiene is an important part of becoming a knowledgeable food safety professional.

ServSafe Food Manager certification covers many important food safety concepts, including personal hygiene, handwashing, contamination prevention, temperature control, cleaning and sanitizing, and other practices designed to help protect the public.

For restaurants and food establishments in Westchester County, NY, Stamford, Greenwich, Fairfield County, CT, and surrounding areas, professional food safety training can help employees and managers better understand their responsibilities.

Get ServSafe Certified with Westchester Food Safety

Looking for ServSafe Food Manager certification in Westchester County, NY or Connecticut?

Westchester Food Safety provides live ServSafe Food Manager classes and exams designed to help food service professionals prepare for certification.

Our classes are convenient for restaurant owners, managers, chefs, supervisors, and food service professionals throughout Westchester County, Fairfield County, Connecticut, New York, and the surrounding Tri-State Area.

Whether you need ServSafe certification, food safety training, private group training, food handler training, or help preparing your restaurant team for a health inspection, Westchester Food Safety can help.

Get Started Today

Ready to improve your food safety knowledge and get ServSafe certified?

Contact Westchester Food Safety today to learn about upcoming live ServSafe Food Manager classes in Rye, NY, private training options, and food safety programs for restaurants and food service businesses.

Westchester Food Safety — Helping Food Service Professionals Stay Safe, Compliant, and Certified.

Call (914) 309-6572 or email Info@westchesterfoodsafety.com to learn more and reserve your spot.