Jewellery & Cosmetics

As a food handler, you need to follow a few rules regarding jewellery and cosmetics. Firstly, you must always take off any jewellery you are wearing when you are preparing food – including watches. You may be allowed to wear a plain wedding band or earrings but you need to check with your supervisor. If you’re able to keep them on, they may ask you to cover them with a waterproof plaster. It’s best practice to use a certain coloured plaster.
You should use a brightly colored plaster to cover or minor cut. This is because so if the worst should happen and the plaster falls off, you’ll be able to spot it and throw it away – as well as throwing away the food it’s landed in. For similar reasons, it’s important to remove jewellery because it can – or parts of it can – fall into food, which can cause harm to your customers. It could also cause injuries, or even fatalities, if it gets caught or tangled in machinery while you work. Jewellery can also harbour bacteria, so removing it reduces the chance of biological contamination of the food you work with. You must also never wear perfume, nail varnish, false nails or heavy makeup – including foundation and lipstick – because they can cause chemical and physical contamination.