Food safety is of utmost importance in any food manufacturing environment. Work boots are potential source of contamination if not properly

managed. Workers may track in dirt, debris, and even harmful microorganisms from outside areas into the production zones. To prevent this,

food factories should have strict regulations regarding the cleanliness of work boots. Let's explore potential hygiene risks of work boots and 

how to deal with them.

• 1. External pollutants

- Dust and dirt: When employees are on their way to and from get off work, their work boots may be contaminated with dust, dirt and other 

impurities in the external environment. If these substances are brought into the food processing area, they will pollute the food processing 

environment and indirectly affect food hygiene and safety.

- Microorganisms: For example, when passing through some areas with poor hygiene conditions, such as public toilets and corridors, the 

soles of shoes may be contaminated with various harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc., which can easily spread to 

the food processing workshop, increasing the risk of food contamination.

• 2. Internal breeding problems

- Odor and sweat accumulation: When wearing work boots for a long time, employees' feet sweat, and sweat will accumulate in the boots, 

breeding bacteria and producing unpleasant odors, which not only affects the working environment, but also if the bacteria multiply in large 

numbers, they may spread to the surrounding environment during walking, threatening food safety.

- Dander and hair residue: The skin on the human foot will continue to metabolize and produce dander, and hair may fall off at the same 

time.

These substances remain in the boots, and over time, they are likely to become a "hotbed" for the growth of microorganisms, and may spread

to various parts of the workshop as employees walk around.

• 1. Personnel access management

- Set up a shoe-changing area: Set up a special shoe-changing area of locker room at the entrance of the food factory. Employees need to 

change their personal shoes before entering the workshop, put on clean work boots, and change back to personal shoes when leaving the 

workshop to prevent external pollutants from entering the workshop through the soles. The floor of the shoe-changing room should be kept 

clean, cleaned and disinfected regularly.

- Shoe and boot cleaning and disinfection facilities: Equipped with tools such as shoe and boot cleaning washer machine, so that employees 

can clean and disinfect the dirty parts. A shoe and boot disinfection pool is set up at the entrance to the workshop. An appropriate amount of 

disinfectant (such as a certain concentration of sodium hypochlorite solution, etc.) is placed in the disinfection pool. Employees wearing work 

boots pass through the disinfection pool to disinfect the soles and the lower part of the boots to kill possible microorganisms;

• 2. Daily maintenance of work boots

- Cleaning and disinfection: formulate a work boot cleaning plan, for example, every day or after each shift, require employees to simply clean

the inside of the work boots to remove dandruff, hair and other debris. If necessary, equip a boot drying rack or machine with ozone, heating 

and drying functions to dry, deodorize and sterilize the inside of the work boots.

- Inspection and replacement: Appoint a dedicated person to regularly check the condition of work boots to check whether there is any 

damage, parts falling off, etc., and arrange for replacement of work boots with obvious damage in a timely manner to ensure that the work 

boots worn by employees are always in good condition and avoid health hazards caused by damage.

• 3. Material and design selection

- Choose easy-to-clean and corrosion-resistant materials: Food factories use rubber, PU and other materials for work boots. These materials 

have relatively smooth surfaces, are easy to clean, are not easy to absorb stains and microorganisms, and are corrosion-resistant. They can 

adapt to the environment of food processing workshops that are often exposed to water and disinfectants.

- Reasonable boot design: Choose a design with a suitable boot shaft height, fits the foot and has a certain amount of breathable space. It 

can prevent foreign debris from easily entering the boots, and is conducive to air circulation, reducing sweat accumulation and odor 

generation. At the same time, try to avoid too many small parts that are easy to fall off, and reduce the risk of foreign matter mixing into food.

• 4. Hygiene training and supervision

- Training and education: Carry out food hygiene and safety training for employees, emphasize the importance of work boot hygiene, explain 

in detail the correct wearing, cleaning, disinfection and inspection methods and requirements for work boots, so that employees can fully 

realize the impact of their own behavior on food hygiene, and improve employees' hygiene awareness and self-consciousness of standardized

operations.

- Supervision and Assessment: Arrange special personnel to supervise and inspect the hygiene of employees' work boots at the workshop 

entrance and during daily work, include the hygiene of work boots in the employee performance assessment, urge employees to strictly abide 

by relevant hygiene regulations, and promptly correct and impose corresponding penalties for violations.