Q: One of my favorite features in the AJC is the restaurant inspection column, even though I see few restaurants that I frequent and I have never checked out a rating before eating. I wonder about the cashier who takes my money, fills my coffee cup and presses down the lid with an ungloved hand. Is that a health code violation?
—Wayne Beck, Cedartown
A: If an employee handles money, then touches the lip of a coffee cup, the worker violated health regulations.
“In many cases, an employee at the cash register performs other tasks (contamination-free procedures) that don’t involve touching food, food contact surfaces or lip-contact surfaces (i.e., the rim of drink cups or unwrapped straws),” Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam told Q&A on the News in an email. “Instead, other employees perform those tasks to minimize the risk of contamination, or lids and straws are stored in a location where customers can get their own.”
The health code doesn’t specifically mention touching cash and food with the same hand, but it’s covered where regulations mention cross-contamination of food.
“Employees must wash their hands after engaging in any activity that has contaminated their hands immediately before engaging in food preparation,” she wrote. “This includes working with exposed food, clean equipment and utensils, and unwrapped single-service and single-use articles. Even with gloves, employees must wash their hands before putting them on, including in between changing them for a new pair.”
If a customer observes a practice that is believed to be a public health concern, bring it to the attention of the restaurant manager, Nydam wrote.
Customers can also contact the local health department.
Allison Floyd with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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