Watch Out... Germs About!
Each year 82 thousand people in the UK see their doctor suffering from food poisoning. The actual number of food poisoning cases could be ten times higher because only one in ten people actually report cases of food poisoning.
The majority of cases of food poisoning can be traced back to bad hygiene – including not washing your hands.
That's why this Food Safety Week (Monday 9-Friday 13 June 2008) Mansfield District Council's Food Safety Team will be out and about in the Mansfield District.
The theme of this year's Food Safety Week is 'Germ Watch' and the team will be visiting local schools to help teach local children about effective hand washing and, to help make learning fun, there will be games and competitions on offer too.
There will be displays in the Civic Centre and in local supermarkets with handy hints and tips about good hygiene.
Hand washing facts:
- Each year it is estimated that as many as 5.5 million people in the UK may suffer from food-borne illnesses – that's 1 in 10 people. Thorough hand washing can help prevent infection.
- Some germs can stay alive on our hands for up to three hours and in that time they can be spread to everything we touch.
- The number of germs on fingertips doubles after using the toilet; yet up to half of men and a quarter of women don't wash their hands when they've been to the loo!
- Make sure you dry your hands thoroughly afterwards: one thousand times as many germs spread from damp hands than dry hands.
- If you wear a ring there could be as many germs under it as there are people in Europe – millions of germs can also hide under watches and bracelets.