How clean are the hands serving your family's food?

Today at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in New York, Ecolab Inc. announced its new Clean Hands™ initiative to raise awareness of the importance of hand washing. The program—which Ecolab is supplying at no charge—also promotes compliance with CDC and FDA guidelines in the foodservice, hospitality, and healthcare industries and aims at reducing the spread of infection from unclean hands.

The company says each year there are more than 76 million foodborne illnesses, nearly half of which can be traced to poor hand hygiene. Those illnesses are particularly harsh on kids' young bodies. I can vouch for that: When I was five, I had a shigella infection traced back to a quick-serve restaurant called the Pak-a-Chick. (Yes, you read that name right.) I remember becoming horribly sick, so much that I couldn't stand up or even stay awake. My mom says there was one night I was lucky to survive. I certainly don't want Baby A to go through anything similar.

So I strongly support more hand washing awareness and support. A few thoughts:

• The vast majority of restaurant operators I've encountered are very strict about hand washing, if only for business reasons. Illnesss outbreaks traced to their restaurants would be devastating. Training and documentation rates are high.

• Many operators put their managers through the National Restaurant Association's ServSafe program, a national standard for hygiene and food storage.

• Gloves don't necessarily replace good hand washing technique and consistency. The best strategy might be a combination of the two.

In spite of it all, I'm sure we've all seen something unsettling happen. There's no perfect way to control what people do. What do you think? Do you see enough hygiene precautions being taken when you're at quick-serve restaurants? What else would you want to see done? Comment and let me (and the industry!) know.