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Did you know that on 15 October it was global hand washing day? I bet you didn’t, well unless you work in the food industry or you follow FSANZ, Food Standards Australia New Zealand. I will tell you a just a little bit about FSANZ before I discuss hand washing.
What, no hand washing sink? Toilet at Valentine Hut, Kosciuszko National Park, NSW Joe Zappavigna
Hand Hygiene in the Bush
Sonya Muhlsimmer
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FSANZ is part of the Australian Government health portfolio which develops standards for the Australian and New Zealand food industry, regulates the use of ingredients in food, and sets requirements for labelling. FSANZ audits cafes, restaurants and food manufacturing sites too if required. FSANZ looks after complaints from customers regarding food issues, naming and shaming cafes and restaurants that are not doing the right thing in food safety that could potentially make someone very sick. The NSW name and shame list is very interesting reading and I encourage you to read it to find out if any cafes or restaurants in your area are not doing the right thing. FSANZ always advertises important allergen, nutritional and food safety information or even information of a newly approved food under the food standards code, such as hemp seeds, so they share a wealth of information.
Hand washingNow I got that out of my system let’s talk hand washing. As you go off into the wild blue yonder do you consider how to wash your hands when nature calls? Did you know you can spread diseases to other people by your dirty hands? You can pass on gastro infections such as salmonella and respiratory infections such as influenza. And did you know there have been numerous food recalls due to food handlers not following proper hand washing procedures, such as the Hepatitis A outbreak in berries in 2017? Dirty hands can cause serious issues.
Hand washing with soap can reduce the child mortality rate of related respiratory diseases by 25%. Also, death from diarrheal diseases can be reduced by 50%. Just to give you some figures about child mortality, in June 2019 the World Health Organization released a Sanitation article. The article says that inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432,000 diarrhoeal deaths annually and is a major factor in several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma. Poor sanitation also contributes to malnutrition - what a staggering fact. Think about that next time you wash your hands. I work in a food manufacturing plant and every time I enter the production area I have to make sure I
have washed and sanitised my hands. The company even checks food handlers hands to ensure their hands are clean. We swab the hands of food handlers and send the swabs off to a microbiological laboratory to detect the type and amount of bacteria present on their hands.
There is a saying that when you wash your hands you should sing Happy Birthday, as this is the time required to wet, lather, scrub and rinse your hands to ensure they are clean. This is all very good under normal conditions, but this cannot be managed in the bush, and being “clean” does mean something different to us when we are out hiking. So how do you wash your hands when you are in the bush?
There are a few options to consider and items for you to pack to ensure your hands are clean. Let’s discuss the options.
Hand washing methodsWater and friction is a good method. The longer you do it, the better it is. Wash them under running water, such as a drink bottle, stream or creek. Rub the palms together, in
A travel towel, tissues, Wet Ones, hand sanitiser and travel soap that can be used to wash hands in the bush. There is no excuse for having dirty hands.
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between the fingers, and over the top of your hands. It is as simple as that, and better than not doing it at all.
Snow is good too. Just pick up some snow and rub it over your hands, or push your hand through some snow for a good old clean. It has the abrasive quality and it is hardened water. Any method that uses abrasion will help. Food Code USA states that it is the abrasive action obtained by vigorously rubbing the surface being cleaned that loosens the transient microorganisms on the hands. Your hands might not be super clean but a lot of the microorganisms could be removed with a little rub, in water or with snow.
Tissues or travel towels moistened with some water may also be used if you need to remove some baked-on dirt. Wet the tissue or towel and rub it over your hands. The tissue may break apart, however, depending on how hard you rub your hands but it will work, and the towel can dry on the back of your rucksack while you walk.
Alcohol-based hand sanitisers come in a range of brands and sizes and are pretty good. All you need to do is flip the lid, squeeze some onto your hands, rub in and wave your hands around to air dry, then presto, you have clean hands. And someone will think that you are waving to them. Do these sanitisers really work, and can you really make new friends with your new air dry wave? Well they do not clean the hands as such so if the hands are soiled with mud or dirt, you won’t remove that. But if the hands are not soiled, you will definitely be reducing the microbial load, and basically yes, they work. Alcohol is an effective germ killing agent as it breaks down the cell membranes of the bugs, thus killing them. So make sure you use the alcohol-based sanitisers. And the bit about making new friends, give it a go and see how it works for you. Alright, you can blame me if it doesn’t work.
Alcohol wipes are similar to the hand sanitiser as above, but they have the additional ability to remove the soil from your hands with the use of the cloth. However, one drawback to these is they do not decompose easily and you have to carry
them out. They should not even be disposed of in a pit toilet. Carry a spare zip-lock bag to put them in and dispose of them later when you are out of the bush.
While some people suffer from dry hands due to the alcohol, I would rather have dry hands than suffer salmonella poisoning.
Travel soap sheets come in a small, convenient container which contains numerous strips of dry soap. You can get them in the camping shop. All you need is a little bit of water and you can wash your hands anywhere, anytime. I am sure you will always have a little bit of water in your drink bottle that you can use.
When to wash your handsThe obvious times you need to wash your hands are after you have gone to the toilet, and before you handle any food. But have you considered any other times like after you cough or sneeze, or before and after tending to a wound or even looking after a sick person? But wait, there's more. You also need to wash them before putting contact lenses in, after taking garbage out, touching animals, or any cleaning duties, and when they are visibly dirty of course like after scrambling up the side of the cliff.
Just think about this: your hands naturally harbour a wide selection of bacteria such as intestinal/faecal, oral, nasal and dermal. All the times you have touched something today, you have unwittingly picked up and dropped off a wide selection of bacteria from each surface you have come in contact with. How did you eat your sandwich today? With your hands right. Do you work in an office and share any space like door handles, kitchen appliances, and printers or phones, and with how many do you share this space with? Did you shake someone’s hands today, where have all of those other hands been? Food for thought.
So there you have it, the choice is yours but please consider all of the options above to keep your hands clean, and more importantly germ free so you do not make anyone sick. Next time I am in the bush and I see someone waving in the distance, I will come and say hello to you. See you out there.
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