Foodborne illness is very common and easily spread through food.
Don’t touch ready-to-eat food with bare hands.
Bare hand contact with food quickly spreads illness. You can spread illness without knowing you’re sick.
- Use gloves, tongs, or other utensils to avoid touching ready-to-eat food with bare hands.
- Make sure you have gloves that fit and place tongs where you need to use them.
Don’t work with food when you are sick.
Sick food workers can spread germs to food, surfaces, utensils, and other people.
Stay home if you have:
- Diarrhea, vomiting, jaundice, or coughing and sneezing.
- Tested positive for:
- Shigella.
- Salmonella.
- E. Coli 0157:H7.
- Hepatitis A.
- Norovirus.
In most cases, you can return to work 24 hours after your symptoms are gone. Check with your manager.
If you have a worker that has tested positive for one of the foodborne illnesses above, contact (253) 649-1417 for assistance.
Helpful links
You must report if a customer or food worker gets sick.
Call (253) 649-1696, email food@tpchd.org, or fill out a report online.
We’ll ask:
- Who got sick.
- What symptoms they had.
- What they ate and drank.
- Any sick person’s contact info if they are willing to provide it.
Prefer a language other than English?
Let us know. We have free language services, like document translation and interpreters. Contact (253) 649-1706 or food@tpchd.org.
Learn more about common foodborne illnesses
Leading causes of foodborne illness
