The 5 Do's and Don'ts of Personal Hygiene to Protect Your Food Facility

—and the Clean Logix Solutions That Set You Up for Success

Personal hygiene in food production facilities isn't just about looking clean—it's about protecting your product, your team, and your brand from dangerous contaminants. With human error contributing to a significant portion of foodborne illness outbreaks, prioritizing sanitation at the employee level is one of the smartest risk-reduction strategies you can implement.

According to the CDC, foodborne illnesses impact an estimated 48 million people each year in the U.S. alone. Many of these outbreaks are traced back to poor personal hygiene practices—things as simple as unwashed hands or contaminated footwear. The good news? These risks are preventable.

Here are five essential Do's and Don'ts of personal hygiene that every food facility should follow—plus a few tools from Clean Logix that make compliance easier, smarter, and more effective.

1. DO: Establish Clear Hygienic Zones

Create distinct clean and dirty zones throughout your facility and control how employees move between them. These physical boundaries help prevent cross-contamination from one area to another.

DON'T: Let Employees Transition Unchecked

Every transition between zones should be treated as a potential contamination risk. Footwear, wheels, and hands should all be cleaned or sanitized before entering a hygienic zone.

Clean Logix Solution: SLX Entryway Foamers apply a consistent layer of foam at transition points, ensuring pathogens don’t hitch a ride from zone to zone.

2. DO: Enforce Footwear Sanitation Protocols

Shoes can carry over 400,000 units of bacteria per pair, and unless properly addressed, they can turn foot dips and transition points into contamination hotspots. Require nonporous, cleanable footwear (no cloth or leather) and ensure that all footwear is cleaned at the facility using proper equipment and solutions to both remove debris and sanitize.

DON'T: Create a Bacteria Bath

Improperly maintained foot dips can quickly become ineffective—or worse, a pool of bacteria everyone walks through. In addition to requiring constant monitoring and refilling, foot dips are also limited in their ability to remove debris from shoe soles. That’s where automated boot scrubbers offer a significant advantage—ensuring debris is cleared and sanitizing solution is consistently applied.

Clean Logix Solution: BLX Boot and Sole Scrubbers provide hands-free, automated footwear cleaning and can be placed at zone transitions to remove organic material and prevent bacterial buildup.

3. DO: Require Handwashing and Sanitization

Hand hygiene is non-negotiable. Install well-placed handwashing and sanitizing stations and reinforce proper techniques through signage and training.

DON'T: Assume Compliance Happens Automatically

Even experienced employees can forget or cut corners. Visibility and automation can go a long way in reinforcing the habit.

Clean Logix Solution: HS1 Automated Hand Sanitizers promote consistent usage and reduce touchpoints that spread germs.

4. DO: Provide the Right Clothing and Accessories

Ensure all employees are equipped with clean, well-maintained PPE—including gloves, aprons, sleeves, hairnets, and beard covers. Clothing should be facility-issued, cleanable, and appropriate for each role.

DON'T: Allow Jewelry or Improper Attire

Jewelry can harbor bacteria and easily fall into food products, becoming both a health hazard and a foreign material risk. Likewise, improper footwear or outerwear can reduce compliance with hygiene zones and cleaning procedures.

5. DO: Build Hygiene into Your Culture

Make hygiene a core part of onboarding and ongoing employee engagement. Recognize good habits, review procedures regularly, and empower everyone to take responsibility.

DON'T: Treat Hygiene as a One-and-Done Training

Sanitation is not a checkbox. It's a continuous effort that evolves with your facility, regulations, and workforce.

Need help identifying weak points in your sanitation strategy? Check out our blog: Strengthening Your Food Safety Plan: Tackling Pinch Points

Final Thoughts: Food safety starts at the employee level. By focusing on personal hygiene—and using the right tools to support it—you can reduce risk, improve audit readiness, and protect your operation from avoidable setbacks. Let Clean Logix help you build smarter, safer hygiene protocols from the ground up.

✉️ Want to learn more about our employee sanitation systems? Contact us here.