LEISURE & RETAIL
HANDY ADVICE FOR THE CHRISTMAS MARKETS
Christmas markets have recently become all the rage in the UK. But how can stall-holders optimise hygiene when serving festive fare to customers? Jeremy Bennett from Tork manufacturer Essity, looks at the importance of hand hygiene at the Christmas market – and considers ways in which it can be improved.
Christmas markets have become an established feature of the festive UK landscape.
From an estimated mere 30 markets in 2007, hundreds of these events now take place in London, Bath, Chester, Leeds, Birmingham and in numerous other towns and cities up and down the country.
Such events attract people from far and wide with their fairy lights and log cabin-style stalls where traditional crafts are sold and festive fayre is offered in the shape of flammkuchen, potato pancakes and currywurst.
But many of these food items are prepared - and eaten - with the hands. And we are all painfully aware of the role that hands can play in passing on colds, flu and Covid-19.
Since any illness contracted at this time of year could ruin our Christmas, it is important that all market stall food is prepared and served hygienically.
However, this can be a challenge since stall-holders are often required to work in cramped conditions with no access to a mains water supply. The chilly environment of a Christmas market can also make the task of hand washing and sanitising an unpleasant experience – one that could cause chapping and soreness to the skin.
So, how do Christmas market stall-holders ensure that their hands remain clean and hygienic at all times when serving food to the public?
Basic hygiene laws cover all street food stalls in the UK, with Christmas markets being no exception. They need to have adequate hand washing facilities plus a means of drying the hands and appropriate equipment for cleaning. And all food surfaces should be tidy, safe and easy to clean.
Stall-holders need to organise their work space smartly to ensure that hand washing and drying facilities are always conveniently located near to hand. Such facilities should be supplied in a compact format to maximise the amount of space available for food preparation. And all products should ideally be disposable since a dishcloth or a textile hand towel would quickly become a breeding-ground for germs after multiple uses.
Mini versions of soap and towel dispensers mounted on the wall of a market stall will save valuable counter space while also protecting the products from contamination before use. For example, the mini version of the Tork soap dispenser contains nearly 500 doses of liquid soap to ensure a continuous supply, while the mini version of the Tork Xpress hand towel dispenser contains 120 towels. Tork Xpress towels are soft and gentle to
34 | TOMORROW’S FM
use while Tork soaps are available in a Tork Sensitive liquid skin-friendly version to help prevent chapping and soreness in cold weather.
Both dispensers can be wall-mounted while a tabletop version of the Tork Xpress dispenser is also available for environments where wall-mounting is not an option.
Many stall-holders use a mobile sink fed from a tank for both hand washing and surface cleaning. But such sinks tend to offer a limited supply of water – typically between three and 25 litres– which means it needs to be used sparingly. A hand sanitiser product such as the Tork Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitiser is a useful supplement to hand washing that can help to conserve water stocks.
"32% of us have refrained from eating food items from a street stall at one time or another - often due to hygiene concerns."
A small Christmas market stall will quickly gain a grubby appearance when crumbs, ketchup and other food products are allowed to soil the counter. Staff will need to repeatedly wipe down the serving area along with the food preparation surfaces. However, this represents another challenge in situations where water is at a premium.
Impregnated wipers work well for cleaning food preparation surfaces on a stall since these require no water and can be thrown away after use. For example, Tork Surface Cleaning Wet Wipes are particularly effective at cleaning greasy surfaces and come in a compact portable bucket containing 58 wipes.
For general wiping and hand drying the Tork Reflex Portable Single Sheet Centrefeed works well since the paper is food contact-approved and the dispenser allows the paper to be pulled out swiftly from any angle. This makes it convenient for a busy stall-holder to use. The dispenser has also been designed to give out only one wiper at a time, reducing consumption by up to 37% compared with centrefeed rolls. This means that each roll lasts longer and the amount of refuse created is kept to a minimum, which is particularly important on a market stall where there will be limited space for rubbish.
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66
