Foodworker Illness Awareness
- Foodworker Illness Awareness Home
- Reporting Fact Sheet
- Decision Guide
- Employee Illness Log
- Employee Illness Guidelines
- Report Your Illness Posters
- Report Customer Complains of Illness Poster
- Attention Poster
- Keep Yourself and Your Guests/Consumers Safe Posters
- Restrictions
Food Safety
- Food Safety Home
- Clean & Separate
- Cook & Chill
- Storing & Preserving
- Cooking Away From Home
- Handling and Preparing Specific Foods
- Food Safety in Emergencies
- Alerts and Recalls
- Print Materials
More Food Safety
Illness Reporting for Food Service Fact Sheet
Revised 6/2024
MDH Foodborne Illness Hotline: 1-877-FOOD-ILL (1-877-366-3455)
- Download a print version of this document: Illness Reporting for Foodservice Fact Sheet (PDF)
- Illness Reporting for Foodservice Fact Sheet in Hmong/English (PDF)
(updated 1/2019) - Illness Reporting for Foodservice Fact Sheet in Somali/English (PDF)
(updated 1/2019) - Illness Reporting for Foodservice Fact Sheet in Spanish/English (PDF)
(updated 1/2019)
- Illness Reporting for Foodservice Fact Sheet in Hmong/English (PDF)
Person in Charge (PIC) responsibilities:
The PIC must exclude all ill employees from the establishment while they have:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
Employees with diarrhea or vomiting cannot return to work for at least 24 hours after symptoms end.
Record all employee reports of diarrhea and vomiting including onset date in an Employee Illness Log.
The PIC must notify your local health department or MDH of any employee diagnosed with any of these illnesses:
- Norovirus
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Hepatitis A virus
- Shiga toxin-producing E. coli
- Infection with another bacterial, viral or parasitic pathogen
Exclusions and restrictions may apply if an employee has been diagnosed with any of the illness listed above.
Earned Sick and Safe Time law (ESST)
The ESST law allows for disclosure of information given by an employee when it is required by state law. The food code requirement for disclosure of illness symptoms by employees is a state law and reporting illness symptoms under the food code is not a violation of the ESST.
Employee responsibilities
Some illnesses can be transmitted through food from employees to customers. Therefore, employees cannot work if they have:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
Employees with diarrhea or vomiting cannot return to work for at least 24 hours after symptoms end.
Employees must report to the PIC if they have any of the following symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Jaundice (yellowing of skin or whites of eyes)
- Sore throat with fever
- Open, infected wound
Employees must report to the PIC if they have any of the following infections:
- Norovirus
- Salmonella
- Shigella
- Hepatitis A virus
- Shiga toxin–producing E. coli
- Infection with another enteric bacteria, viral or parasitic pathogen
Employees must report to the PIC if they have been exposed to, or are a suspected source of a disease outbreak in the last 30 days.
Report customer illness complaints
The PIC is required to notify your local health department or MDH of complaints from a customer who:
- Reports becoming ill with diarrhea or vomiting after eating at the establishment.
OR - Reports having or is suspected of having norovirus, hepatitis A virus, Salmonella, Shigella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or another enteric bacterial, viral or parasitic pathogen after eating at the establishment.
Customer complaints may also be reported directly to the MDH Foodborne Illness Hotline: 1-877-FOOD-ILL (1-877-366-3455) or fill out the online Minnesota Foodborne & Waterborne Illness Report.