Deb Group: ‘Foodborne diseases result in 420,000 deaths a year’

The company which manufactures skin care to reduce the risk from foodborne bacteria in the food and beverage industry claims 39% of staff do not wash their hands after visiting the toilet, while 53% do not wash their hands before preparing food.

Deb Stoko skin care range

Speaking at Foodex 2016 at Birmingham NEC, Paul Jakeway, marketing director, Deb Group, UK, told FoodQualityNews, an integrated skin care is essential to addressing the key challenges facing the food processing industry and the role of hand hygiene to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses.

“Implementing skin care best practice is essential to ensure hand hygiene compliance and maintain food safety standards in the workplace​,” he said.

“This starts at the top of any organisation and needs instilling from top to bottom. Hand hygiene best practice needs regular focus from any organisation including staff training and provision of appropriate facilities​.”

According to Jakeway, the food service market looks set to continue growing at a rapid rate as families have more disposable income which represents a real opportunity for food manufacturers and service providers.

“As more food service and hospitality facilities emerge in the UK, standards of hygiene need to be instilled to ensure customer satisfaction – hand hygiene will play a key role in reducing the spread of germs in the food production or preparation process​,” he added.

Deb Group launched the Deb Stoko skin care range in the UK last year.

HACCP assessed 

It is a 4-step approach to skin care covering Protect Creams, Hand Cleansers, Hand Sanitisers and Restorative Creams.

“Through the Deb Stoko range, we created tailored skin care programmes for each market sector, such as Deb Food​,” said Jakeway.

“An integrated skin care addressing the key challenges facing the food processing industry and the role of hand hygiene to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses, improve standards of behaviour and employee skin health​.”

On display at Foodex the company exhibited its Stokoderm Aqua PURE pre-work cream effective against water based contaminants and wet working environments. HACCP assessed to confirm suitability for the food industry.

Its OxyBAC antimicrobial foam hand cleanser containing Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide antibacterial agent and InstantFOAM Complete, a hypo-allergenic, hand sanitising foam, among others. 

The firm makes skin care products covering the industrial, commercial, healthcare and food environments and partners with a number of national and regional food processing and servicing companies, providing them with tailored skin care for their employees.