More than half of food industry workers go to work sick, according to the annual Mind of the Food Worker study conducted by the Center for Research and Public Policy and commissioned by Alchemy Systems.
A few highlights from the poll:
“The vast majority of frontline food workers and their employers are committed to providing safe foods for their customers,” says Alchemy CEO Jeff Eastman. “The survey shows that over 90 percent of food workers feel responsible for the safety and well-being of their customers. So managers and supervisors need to better communicate why it’s okay to stay home when sick.”
The Mind of the Food Worker study’s purpose is to “increase the food industry’s understanding of frontline worker attitudes and behaviors.” In order to garner feedback from across the entire food supply chain, more than 1,200 food workers at farms, dairies, slaughter houses, meat facilities processing plants, cafeterias, commercial bakeries, restaurants and grocery stores were polled. The data was collected between July 3 through 16, 2015.