Topic: Say no to norovirus

With increasing numbers of cruise passengers falling victim to the grim gastrointestinal illness norovirus, health experts are warning cruisers to take control.

Despite it only being the third month of the year, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has had a total of eight ships accessing its Vessel Sanitation Programme in 2010.

This compares drastically to the 15 vessels that underwent the process during the entirety of 2009.

While the virus is not limited to cruise ships, the confined spaces and high-population numbers provide a breeding ground for bacteria.

In order to prevent the spread of the illness, the CDC say there are some simple steps people can take, which should always be started with a trip to the ship medical team.

Food can easily be infected by sick people, so passengers are advised to opt for hot meals during on outbreak, which is particularly important when choosing from the buffet section.

Human contact is a major cause of infection, so affected passengers are required to stay within their cabins at all times until they have made a full recovery.

The CDC says people should wash their hands thoroughly, preferably after any contact with passengers, objects and food, which can all harbour the bacteria.

It also advises refraining from shaking hands during an outbreak.

While you might not want to turn down the offer of greeting the captain, if the occasion arises, you could always offer him some hand sanitation gel to be safe.

I feel sorry for the poor Captain. All those bugs transferred every trip. How long before they wear gloves to shake hands? I'm definitely taking wipes and hand gel this year for shore excursion. Judith

I've seen a Captain on a Celebrity ship (Captain's cocktail party) stand with his hands behind his back and 'bow' to each passenger. I was not aware that their was a mojor outbreak onboard.

I have recently been watching the latest series of Masterchef on the telly, and have been surprised at the number of times the food is handled by the cooks, both in the cooking and plating up. I presume that this goes on in cruise ship and hospital kitchens as well.
Should we worry?

QUOTE:

I have recently been watching the latest series of Masterchef on the telly, and have been surprised at the number of times the food is handled by the cooks, both in the cooking and plating up. I presume that this goes on in cruise ship and hospital kitchens as well.
Should we worry?

I work in a hospital kitchen. Meals are created by one chef, cooked and transferred to the bain maries by the conveyor belt for plating up. One person is responsible for each main course which are prepared fresh in the time before serving ~ nothing is batched up and chilled till the following day.

No food items are touched by staff hands during this process except yogurt tubs, ice creams and dessert bowls. Once the main course item is on the plate (via ladles tongs etc ~ I don't dollop them on with my hands!) it then goes onto the conveyor belt and everything else is added without touching the plate. The only other person (until it gets to the ward) to touch the plate is the member of staff who loads it into the heated trolley for transporatation.

Even for temperature monitoring we have temp guns rather than probes

QUOTE:

I work in a hospital kitchen. Meals are created by one chef, cooked and transferred to the bain maries by the conveyor belt for plating up. One person is responsible for each main course which are prepared fresh in the time before serving ~ nothing is batched up and chilled till the following day.

No food items are touched by staff hands during this process except yogurt tubs, ice creams and dessert bowls. Once the main course item is on the plate (via ladles tongs etc ~ I don't dollop them on with my hands!) it then goes onto the conveyor belt and everything else is added without touching the plate. The only other person (until it gets to the ward) to touch the plate is the member of staff who loads it into the heated trolley for transporatation.

So why is the food handled so much in the posh restaurants shown on Masterchef ? Including the rather twee dipping of the little finger into the 'jus' to taste it.

No badge for me thank you

QUOTE:

So why is the food handled so much in the posh restaurants shown on Masterchef ? Including the rather twee dipping of the little finger into the 'jus' to taste it.

No badge for me thank you

Haven't a clue ~ I know our head chef takes one portion of everything randomly and takes it for tasting and presentation assessment every day.

Hubby is a chef and he only usually tastes things near to the end of cooking (and with a teaspoon may I add) but when we had our own place things like stock and gravy were batch cooked so they only neede tasting that time before being added to other items.

I have often thought about the amount of poking of food that goes on on the TV - touching the meat to see if it's rare, medium or well done. The wiping of hands on a cloth around the waist after touching raw meat doesn't sit well with me either, hands should be washed! Tasting food with spoons is only better than using your fingers if you use a clean spoon each time to taste, again this isn't always the case on tv shows.
Going back to some of the advice given - eating hot food does seem like common sense but the hand gel leaves me somewhat confused..... I thought it wasn't any use against NV and that the advice is to wash your hands with hot water and plenty soap