It is 06:30. You have a sore throat, mild stomach cramps and breakfast for ten in an hour. You are the only stew on watch. You are also about to handle every piece of food and every glass those guests will put in their mouths today. What is the right call?
Fitness to work
- Report illness before you handle food. Vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, jaundice, infected skin lesions and discharge from eyes, ears or nose are all reasons to be taken off food handling.
- Most food-safety systems require a food handler with vomiting or diarrhoea to stay off food work until symptom-free for a set period — commonly 48 hours, though the exact rule is set by the yacht's own food-safety management system and by flag and port state requirements. Follow the boat's system, not your own judgement.
- Norovirus and similar bugs spread through a yacht in hours. Hiding illness to look tough is the most damaging thing you can do onboard.
- Report to the chief stew and, where the boat requires it, to the medical officer or captain.
Personal hygiene standards
- Hands: wash with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds — before handling food, after the toilet, after handling waste or raw food, after cleaning, after touching your face or phone, after a break. Dry with a clean single-use towel.
- Nails: short, clean, unvarnished, no gel or acrylic extensions where the boat's system prohibits them (they harbour bacteria and can detach into food).
- Jewellery: minimal — typically a plain wedding band only. No watches, no bracelets, no dangling earrings.
- Hair: clean and tied back, off the collar and off the face. Do not touch it during service.
- Uniform: clean and pressed daily; changed if soiled; not worn ashore into a dirty environment and back into the galley.
- Cuts and grazes: covered with a blue, detectable, waterproof plaster — blue because it is not a food colour and shows up if it comes off.
- No eating, chewing, smoking, vaping or spitting in food areas. Do not taste with a used spoon or lick your fingers.
- Perfume and aftershave: light or none. Strong scent taints food and irritates guests.
Food-handling hygiene
- Handle crockery by the rim or base, glass by the base or stem, cutlery by the handle. Never touch the food-contact surface.
- Use tongs, service cutlery or clean gloves — not bare hands — for ready-to-eat food.
- Gloves are not a substitute for hand-washing. They get contaminated exactly like hands do; change them between tasks.
- Cloths: colour-code them, keep them clean and dry, change them frequently. A damp, warm cloth is a bacterial culture.
- Never place a cloth, a phone or a used tray on a food surface.
Onboard Notes
- Your phone is one of the dirtiest items you carry. It does not belong in a pantry or a galley.
- A guest who sees you touch your hair or your face and then pick up their glass will remember it for the whole charter.
- These lessons are preparatory only — a formal food safety / food hygiene award comes from a recognised awarding body and is a separate qualification.
- If you would not want to see it done to your own plate, do not do it to theirs.