With flu season kicking into high gear and the threat of H1N1 looming, it is prime time for taking preventative measures to keep you, your employees and your customers healthy.

The CDC identifies specific strategies to be taken to prevent spread of H1N1 within the workplace, such as practicing policies that allow employees to stay home ill without fear of repercussions and encouraging workers to get vaccinated, and the National Restaurant Association has modified some of these suggestions to apply to restaurant operators. Their tips include ensuring adequate air circulation, providing easy access to hand sanitizers and emphasizing the importance of good hygiene habits among employees.

Serv-U offers the supplies your restaurant needs to survive this flu season. Air purifiers will rid your business of airborne germs. Stocking up on hand wipes and equipping restrooms with soap and sanitary hand dryers encourages healthy habits, as do signs reminding employees to wash their hands.

Preparing for flu season in a restaurant is not much different than the precautions taken in any other business. An FDA report confirms that influenza is not known to spread through food consumption. Transmission of the virus in a restaurant could occur through the normal routes of infection possible in any public setting—inhalation of viral germs expelled when coughing or sneezing, and, by touching contaminated surfaces then touching the eyes, mouth, or nose. Following the FDA Food Code, which discourages coughing and sneezing employees, or those with runny noses, from working with food, should keep you, your staff and your patrons flu-free.

More extensive information on H1N1 prevention can be found at http://www.restaurant.org/fluinfo/.

If you have addition questions on how Serv-U can help you keep your restaurant healthy, feel free to contact us via phone at 800-797-3788 or click the picture of the customer service representative at the top left corner of each page of the site to launch a live chat.