We serve as a trusted resource for the latest news and helpful information related to skin health and surface hygiene advancements. GOJO microbiologists, scientists,
nurses and other professionals post regularly
and we also get the views of outside experts and
thought leaders in the field. It’s all part of the
GOJO Purpose, Saving Lives and Making Lives Better Through Well-Being Solutions.
Back to the Basics for National Food Safety Education Month
9/21/2022
By Chip Manuel, Ph.D.
Food Safety Science Advisor, GOJO Industries
Did you know that an estimated 48 million people in the U.S. get sick each year with a foodborne illness? That’s 1 in every 6 people! To increase food safety awareness and spread the word on safe food handling practices, federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have deemed September National Food Safety Education Month. In this blog, we go “back to the basics” and revisit some easy food safety principles that we all can practice more frequently, which can help reduce our chances of getting sick from food.
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Are Viruses Behaving Strangely, or Are We?
8/25/2022
By James Bingham, MS
Senior Research Microbiologist, GOJO
Viruses appear to have been acting strangely over the past year as we have emerged from COVID restrictions. During the first two years of the pandemic, many infectious diseases that typically circulate during certain times of year took a hiatus. COVID-19 precautions, like social distancing, wearing masks, increased hand hygiene and surface disinfection, and limited travel, were highly effective at limiting the spread of COVID-19 but also limited the spread of many common illnesses that spread through similar transmission routes as COVID-19.
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Hidden Germs in Collegiate Dining Facilities
7/18/2022
By Dawn Yeomans, Ph.D.
Research Principal, GOJO Industries
Germs are everywhere. Did you know, on average, adults can touch as many as 30 objects in a single minute, including germ-harboring, high-touch surfaces? In fact, germs that can make your students and staff sick can survive pretty much anywhere and live from hours to even months depending on the germ and where it’s residing! This is partly why outbreaks – like COVID-19, cold, flu, and gastrointestinal illness – are common on college and university campuses. The residential style of shared dining facilities and high student-to-student contact make campuses breeding grounds for infectious outbreaks.
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Unobservable Risks Associated with Reusable Wiping Cloths and the “Red Bucket” Practice
3/9/2022
By Chip Manuel, Ph.D.
Food Safety Science Advisor, GOJO Industries
The sights of a restaurant experience can often be as enjoyable as the food: unique dishes being shuffled to tables of smiling families amidst an appealing ambiance, all taken in from the vantage of a favorite spot. Another common sight that can be observed at a restaurant is an employee grabbing a soaking wet cloth towel from a red bucket filled with solution and then using that towel to wipe a table clean for the next set of guests. But did you know that this seemingly routine practice can carry risks if not conducted properly? In this blog post, we take a deeper dive into the practice of reusable wiping cloths within a restaurant and explore some of the hidden, unobserved risks associated with this practice.
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GOJO Releases Free Guest Experience Resource E-Book
2/8/2022
By Diane Collins
Senior Market Development Director – Foodservice, GOJO Industries
For foodservice establishments, including restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores, navigating the past almost two years has required perpetual adjustments along the way. Constantly planning for the “new normal,” which gets pushed further out over and over again, has meant undertaking significant investments to adapt and maintaining nimble operations at a time of tightened budgets, food and supply shortages, and limited staffing resources. All responsibilities of the operation have grown more complex; even something once viewed as routine – guest experience.
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Foodservice Guests Expect More – Can You Meet Their Needs?
11/2/2021
By Diane Collins
Senior Market Development Director – Foodservice, GOJO Industries
COVID-19 has changed the world, and with it the concept of “guest experience” has grown substantially. While good food and atmosphere used to be customers’ primary concern, they now expect more, adopting a laser focus on overall health and safety in the process. How can retail foodservice establishments get a clearer idea of exactly what guests are looking for – big and small – meet those expectations, and get credit for doing it? Especially with limited budget and staffing resources?
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Managing Listeria Outbreaks in Retail and Foodservice Establishments
9/14/2021
By Chip Manuel, Ph.D.
Food Safety Science Advisor, GOJO Industries
Members of the bacterial genus Listeria are frequently found in the environment, soil, and vegetation; however, the species Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono) is a significant pathogen of concern in the food industry and is a hardy organism capable of thriving in conditions beyond what other organisms can survive in. L. mono can flourish in various environments or food products, including high-salt environments, moist conditions, and more terrifyingly, at refrigerated temperatures - even below 33.8˚F!
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Contaminated Surfaces – A Cross Contamination Risk in Retail and Foodservice Establishments
8/23/2021
By Hal King, Ph.D.
Managing Partner, Active Food Safety and Founder/CEO of Public Health Innovations
Also By Chip Manuel, Ph.D.
Food Safety Science Advisor, GOJO Industries
Cross-contamination is an important concept to understand in the field of Food Safety management. It can be loosely defined as “the physical movement or transfer of harmful pathogens [or allergens, sometimes further defined as cross contact] from one person, object or place to another.” While this definition is broad, it illustrates the variety of ways pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and even allergens can move around within a retail and foodservice establishment and onto ready-to-eat foods. One frequent way is through cross-contamination of surfaces.
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Keeping Food Safety On Track with Off-Premise Activity
4/15/2021
By Diane Collins
Senior Market Development Director – Foodservice, GOJO Industries
More restaurant operations are occurring outside of traditional spaces due to the growth of off-premise sales. As with all foodservice policies, “out of sight, out of mind” is never a best practice, and it’s absolutely necessary to be stewards of food safety even when it can’t be readily observed. This is the topic of a recent essay from Hal King, Ph.D., Managing Partner at Active Food Safety and Founder of Public Health Innovations.
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The Effect Mitigating COVID-19 Transmission Through Cleaning and Sanitation Is Having on Foodborne Disease Outbreaks
3/29/2021
By Hal King, Ph.D.
Managing Partner, Active Food Safety and Founder/CEO of Public Health Innovations
Also By Chip Manuel, Ph.D.
Food Safety Science Advisor, GOJO Industries
The COVID-19 pandemic that first hit the United States in 2020 has been the largest public health crisis in more than 100 years, leading to millions of deaths globally and altering the global economy for years to come. As just one example of the far-reaching negative impacts of this virus, it has devastated the restaurant and foodservice industry in the United States and has changed the food industry’s global supply chain for years to come. Restaurant and foodservice loss of sales alone was reported by the National Restaurant Association to surpass $185 billion between March and August of 2020. Now as the pandemic has entered its second full year, there is hope that pharmaceutical interventions (i.e., vaccines and antiviral drugs) will significantly reduce the impact the pandemic has on lives and the economy.
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