As children start to go back to school, the Food Safety Information Council is asking parents to make sure their children know how to wash their hands correctly.
Cathy Moir, Council Chair, said that an international survey published by the Global Hygiene Council (GHC) in 2020 found that 42%of children between the ages of 5 and 10 did not know how to properly wash their hands while at school. This survey assessed primary school students from across seven countries, including the UK, Indonesia, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, India and South Africa.
‘Also, our own research in August 2021 found a 15% decrease in the number of times Australians over 18 washed or sanitised their hands a day, on average, since the same time the previous year so this is also a timely reminder for adults to remember to wash their hands frequently,’ Ms Moir said.
‘To reduce their risk of food poisoning (and COVID-19 infection) children should always wash their hands with soap and running water for 20 seconds and thoroughly dry them (or use hand sanitiser if hand washing facilities aren’t available) on these occasions:
“To remind Australia of the importance of good hand hygiene, the Food Safety Information Council has made an education package available including videos and posters for both adults and children that give 4 simple tips for washing hands correctly. We also strongly encourage schools to take the Glitterbug challenge to see how well children wash their hands with a fun scientific experiment using a UV torch. The package can be downloaded from our website and we encourage people to watch the video and to put up the posters at home, in their workplace, or at school,” Moir concluded.
This year we have partnered with our supporter Provisual to get handwashing and other food safety information into school canteens and tuckshops and we also encourage all schools to order Provisual’s free canteen posters.
In addition, here are 7 tips for parents about how to prepare a safe lunch for their children:
The Food Safety Information Council would like to thank their members OnSolution and Accord Australasia for their support for this campaign through charitable donations.
Lourdes Antenor is an experienced writer who specialises in the not-for-profit sector and its affiliations. She is the content producer for Third Sector News, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian NFP sector.
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