A new report released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that ill employees play a significant role in the proliferation of foodborne diseases at eateries and other food service institutions.
The study, which examined data from 2017 to 2019, found that roughly 40% of foodborne disease outbreaks with traceable sources were linked, at least partially, to food being contaminated by a sick or infected worker. One such example occurred in 2017 when Chipotle attributed a norovirus outbreak at its Sterling, Virginia, restaurant to a sick employee who had reported to work.
The report found that norovirus, which causes stomach upset leading to vomiting and diarrhea, was the pathogen most frequently implicated in foodborne disease outbreaks in U.S. restaurants during the studied years. The virus was responsible for nearly 47% of the 800 outbreaks identified by the CDC. Salmonella, a bacteria known to induce diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, accounted for almost 19% of the incidents.
The CDC suggests that restaurants should devise and implement rules obliging sick workers to inform their supervisors if they exhibit any symptoms and to abstain from work if they are unwell. Although most eateries have some regulations for sick employees, the report noted that these often lack comprehensiveness.
According to data gathered by the CDC, a vast majority (92%) of interviewed managers confirmed that their establishments had regulations mandating food handlers to report symptoms when feeling unwell. However, only 66% of these policies were in written form, and a mere 23% mentioned all five FDA-recommended symptoms that warrant notifying a manager, namely vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat accompanied by fever, or a lesion containing pus.
Furthermore, while over 85% of surveyed managers stated that their restaurants have policies preventing sick employees from working, only 62% had these guidelines written down, and just 18% included all five FDA-listed symptoms.
Darin Detwiler, a professor of food regulatory policy at Northeastern University, not involved in the research, emphasizes that the issue goes beyond a single sick employee. The problem, Detwiler contends, is also with management at various levels not adhering to health department directives.
He argues that implementing more generous sick leave policies, either at the state level or by individual corporations, could help in mitigating outbreaks. Supporting this, past research has suggested that extended paid sick leave could reduce the number of frontline food service employees working while unwell. For instance, a 2021 study showed that Olive Garden’s decision to widen its paid sick leave coverage during the pandemic resulted in a decreased rate of employees working while sick.
The CDC’s report found that less than half of food establishments experiencing outbreaks offered paid sick leave to at least one food handler. Currently, only fourteen states, along with Washington D.C., have paid sick leave laws, as reported by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.
Detwiler insists that if corporations genuinely cared about their employees’ and customers’ health, they would proactively take steps to prevent such incidents rather than simply reacting to them.
The CDC suggests that, along with paid sick leave, eateries could benefit from a staffing plan that includes standby workers. They note that there are numerous reasons for employees reporting to work while ill, including financial necessity and social pressures like not wanting to disappoint colleagues.
Foodborne diseases afflict approximately 48 million people and lead to 3,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. Detwiler believes most of these fatalities could be prevented with appropriate measures.