Latest News
National Food Safety Month: Keep Cross-Contamination Off the Menu
Sep 15, 2026
The food safety risks you can’t see can be some of the most important to prevent.
For Week 3 of National Food Safety Month, the focus is on preventing cross-contamination—an essential ingredient in the Recipe for Food Safety Success. From raw ingredients and shared equipment to hands and food-contact surfaces, small oversights can create significant food safety risks.
Restaurant leaders can help prevent cross-contamination by making safe practices part of every shift and every task. That starts with the basics: wash hands properly and often, keep raw foods separated from ready-to-eat foods, use gloves correctly, clean and sanitize between tasks, and keep employees who are sick out of the workplace.
Training is also key. Make sure employees understand when to change gloves, when hands need to be washed and how to prevent raw meat, poultry and seafood from coming into contact with foods that will not be cooked.
Week 3’s Cross-Contamination Bundle provides ready-to-use resources to help reinforce these practices with your team. The bundle includes a recipe card, team poster and shift meeting brief covering personal hygiene, proper glove use, employee illness and other ways to prevent the spread of foodborne illness.
Use these tools to start a conversation with your team and identify opportunities to strengthen your operation’s food safety practices.
Keep cross-contamination off the menu—every shift, every person.