In cases of E. coli O157:H7, Shigella, Salmonella Typhi, or Norovirus, food workers diagnosed with such infections may be legally restricted from working until cleared by medical professionals.

Food-borne illness prevention relies on a finely tuned system of surveillance, regulation, public-health intervention, and responsible behavior by food workers and employers. Among the most critical components of this system is the legal and regulatory framework governing the exclusion and restriction of food handlers diagnosed with communicable pathogens that pose a serious threat to public health. W hen frontline food workers—whether in restaurants, fast-food chains, grocery stores, institutional kitchens, daycare centers, school cafeterias, or hospitals—contract infections such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Shigella species, Salmonella Typhi (the causative agent of typhoid fever), or Norovirus, the risks associated with their continued presence in the workplace are extraordinary. These f