What You Need to Know
British Retail Consortium (BRC) global standards are the international benchmark for food safety. Our screening services directly support your compliance with BRC Global Standard for Food Safety requirements. Specifically, we help you satisfy sections 7.2 and 7.3, which dictate rigorous Personal Hygiene and Medical Screening protocols for all personnel to prevent product contamination.
Effective control of food handler hygiene requires a risk-based approach to prevent contamination. Our clinical team reinforces your safety protocols through:
Education & Instruction: Ensuring staff understand personal hygiene standards, including hand washing techniques, protective clothing, and metal-strip plaster usage.
Symptom Awareness: Training on the mandatory reporting of Diarrhoea, Vomiting, Nausea, and Fever.
Work Exclusion Policy: Establishing clear clinical rules for staff to be excluded or restricted from food handling duties immediately upon symptom onset.
The 48-Hour Rule: Implementing the standard requirement that staff remain off work until 48 hours after clinical recovery to prevent post-symptomatic transmission of pathogens.
Legal compliance in Ireland is governed by a framework designed to eliminate foodborne disease.
EU Regulation (EC) 852/2004: Demands that food business operators ensure staff are supervised and instructed in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity.
FSAI Guidelines: Our services align with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland requirements for fitness-to-work assessments.
Mandatory Certification: Specific sectors- including Meat, Dairy, and Fish processing- have an “obligation to prove” fitness via a medical certificate renewed annually.
NDSC Framework: We follow the National Disease Surveillance Centre publication “Preventing Foodborne Disease: A Focus on the Infected Food Handler” for all legislative screening standards.
A food handler is any person involved in a food business who handles food or touches food contact surfaces. This definition includes supervisors, maintenance contractors, and cleaners. High-risk food handlers-those handling unwrapped food to be consumed raw or without further treatment- require specific, documented medical assessments. Our onsite medical services identify personal hygiene risks across your entire team, regardless of their specific job description.
Staff members working around open food while suffering from bacterial or viral infections pose a severe threat to the end consumer. Contamination of work surfaces or food products can lead to widespread illness and significant legal liability for the business. Professional hygiene screening is the most effective way to mitigate this risk and protect your brand reputation from a public health incident.
We provide a comprehensive suite of on-site medical interventions to satisfy both clinical and regulatory needs.
Pre-Employment Screening: Hygiene questionnaires and physical exams to identify health impediments before a contract begins.
Routine Annual Reviews: Periodic medical certification to ensure ongoing fitness for work and to reinforce hygiene awareness.
Microbiological Stool Screening: Targeted laboratory testing when clinically indicated by symptoms or as part of a localized outbreak investigation.
Pathogen Identification: Expert analysis to identify specific threats such as Norovirus, Salmonella, or E. coli.
Fitness for Work Certification: Rapid issuance of certificates following assessment to minimise operational downtime and satisfy environmental health audits.
