Georgia-Pacific Professional and CloudClean technology to improve hand hygiene in food industry

Georgia-Pacific Professional and CloudClean have developed a hygiene compliance solution to increase the hand-washing participation rates of food workers in the food service, food preparation and food processing industries.

The new initiative is designed to contain the spread of foodborne diseases, that are said to affect one in six Americans annually.

Studies have revealed that only one in four food workers practice proper washing of hands. It is said that infected food workers cause around 70% of reported norovirus outbreaks by contaminating food.

The CloudClean Hand Hygiene Compliance Technology trains, reminds and reports adherence to the protocols related to hand hygiene in real-time, which allows employees to self-correct and managers to enhance their efficiency by solving the problem of low hand-washing compliance.

CloudClean COO Steve Russak said: "Operators want to have the confidence that their teams are complying with hand hygiene policies, but they know they fall woefully short.

"Operators understand that it is their duty to protect the public from foodborne illness, as well as protect themselves from the associated financial, reputational and brand degradation risk to their business."

By combining CenTrak’s real-time, patented monitoring technology, the automated enMotion dispensers of Georgia-Pacific Professional and the reporting interface of CloudClean, it becomes easy to monitor hand-hygiene compliance in any zone or workflow where hand wash protocols are needed, such as restrooms, break rooms, exits and raw food or ready-to-eat (RTE) prep areas.

Georgia-Pacific Professional innovation director Ginger Lange said: "There are many reasons why low hand-washing levels currently exist, including high attrition rates, lack of repetitive training, peak service periods and employee inattention when managers are not present, to name a few.

"This powerful technology is a supportive tool for both employees and managers. It raises awareness about the importance of hand hygiene and provides more certainty that hand washing occurs. That’s good for employees, good for the public and good for business."

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Image: The CloudClean Hand Hygiene Compliance Technology trains, reminds and reports adherence to the protocols related to hand hygiene. Photo: courtesy of Georgia-Pacific Professional.