Introduction

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world’s focus on many areas, one of which is the importance of personal hygiene, particularly that of handwashing. However, as reflected by the responses to QA’s State of the Hygiene Market survey sponsored by Meritech, employee hygiene, particularly handwashing, is of importance as a standard operating practice for the food and beverage processing industry. This is particularly notable as the survey was distributed in early February before community spread had been detected in the U.S.

In fact, no respondents ranked handwashing, personal hygiene, or ill-worker separation from food as unimportant in their facility. With the further emphasis that has been put on these areas during the pandemic, it is likely that we will see a post-COVID world — both within and outside the food industry — that places an even greater emphasis on hygiene and handwashing.

SURVEY RESPONDENTS