ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A US senator has suggested that restaurant employees should not be coerced into washing their hands after toilet visits.

And when referring to food preparation staff, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis provoked a row by saying: "Let them decide such issues".

Tillis, who opposes widespread regulation on businesses, made the comments during a speech criticising the extent of such regulations in his state.

His argument was that any restaurant with no requirement for workers to wash their hands would swiftly go out of business in any case. He added that any restaurant opting out of state-imposed hand washing regulations would need to display a sign to that effect in their premises.

"But I think it's good to illustrate the point that that's the sort of mentality we need to have to reduce the regulatory burden on this country," said Tillis.

"Sometimes there are regulations that maybe we want to set a direction, but then let those who are regulated decide whether or not it makes sense."

Following his statement, Tills has been extensively criticised in blogs and ridiculed on television shows in the US. However, supporters point out that hand washing regulations In North Carolina are already fairly rigid since they dictate how and where food service staff should wash their hands.

They also decree that hand washing should be carried out using FDA-approved soap and that the hands should be dried afterwards with either disposable paper towels or a hand dryer.