Norovirus outbreaks spread rapidly in restaurants. What is the most effective way for a manager to prevent Norovirus transmission from staff?
a.Rely on alcohol hand sanitizer at each station instead of soap-and-water washing
b.Exclude ill staff and enforce proper handwashing with no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food
c.Cook every menu item to 135°F for 15 seconds and treat that as the Norovirus kill step
d.Freeze ready-to-eat food at 0°F for 24 hours to inactivate the virus before service
Explanation
Norovirus is extremely contagious and travels by the fecal-oral route, so the controls that work are excluding sick employees and enforcing handwashing plus no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food. Alcohol hand sanitizer does not inactivate Norovirus and may never be substituted for washing. Freezing does not kill it either, so 0°F storage only preserves it. And 135°F is the hot-holding minimum, not a cook temperature and not a kill step for a virus.
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