Below you can find guidance created to help the food industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to provide updates to these resources as the situation changes and new information becomes available. Visit this page for a full list of General Food Industry Resources.
Food Industry Guidance on COVID-19
- Visit this page from FAO to find updated guidance for preventing transmission of COVID-19 within food businesses. Posted on August 6, 2021.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find a "COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Toolkit" for essential workers. Posted on January 25, 2021.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find guidelines on ventilation as a mitigation strategy. Posted on December 8, 2020.
- Post this sign at your main entrances, your break rooms, bathrooms, loading docks, etc. Posted on March 25, 2020.
- Visit this page from the Food Industry Association to find a series of business practice documents with guidance for the food industry. Posted on March 17, 2020.
What to do When an Employee Tests Positive
- Visit this page from the CDC to find their guidance on "COVID-19 Critical Infrastructure Sector Response Planning." Posted on April 13, 2020.
Guidance on Social Distancing
- Visit this page from Food Northwest for guidelines on social distancing in food manufacturing facilities. Posted on March 30, 2020.
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Personal Hygiene Guidance
Hand Hygiene
- Visit this page from the FDA to find information on the safe use of hand sanitizers. Posted on March 30, 2020.
- Visit these two pages from the CDC to find information on when and how to wash your hands:
- When and How to Wash Your Hands. Posted on March 17, 2020.
- Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives. Posted on March 17, 2020.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find hand-washing guidance in Spanish. Posted on March 17, 2020.
Respiratory Hygiene
- Visit this page from the CDC to find information on proper N95 respirator use for respiratory protection preparedness. Posted on January 13, 2022.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find information on how to perform a proper seal check when using a respirator. Posted on January 13, 2022.
- Visit this page from the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) to find information on how to identify counterfeit respirators and misrepresentation of NIOSH approval. Posted on January 13, 2022.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find a list of manufacturers of NIOSH approved N95 particulate filtering facepiece respirators. Posted on January 13, 2022.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find information on facial hairstyles and the performance of filtering facepiece respirators. Posted on September 14, 2021.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find information on how to improve how your mask protects you. Posted on February 10, 2021.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find considerations for wearing cloth face coverings. Posted on June 30, 2020.
- Visit this page from the FDA to find information on the use of respirators, facemasks, and cloth face coverings in the food and agriculture sector during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Posted on April 28, 2020.
- Visit this page from the CDC to find information on cough etiquette. Posted on April 8, 2020.
Cleaning & Sanitation Guidance
- Visit this page from the EPA to find information on products that were tested directly against the virus that causes COVID-19. Posted on July 7, 2020.
- Visit this page from the EPA to find an info sheet with 6 steps for safe and effective disinfectant use. Posted on May 15, 2020.
- Visit this page from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to find a search tool for approved disinfectants included in the List N. The same tool can also be found as a phone app, “list n tool”. Posted on May 15, 2020.
- Visit this page from Pesticide Safety Education Program, Cornell University Cooperative Extension to find information on how to safely use cleaning and sanitizing chemicals in your home and production facility. Posted on May 7, 2020.
- Visit this page from the New York State, Department of Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Pesticides Management for information about approved chemicals and important, state-specific restrictions Posted on March 17, 2020.
COVID-19 Resources & Guidance Archive
Some of the resources from this page have been archived in an effort to highlight relevant information. Please note that information in this document may be outdated and links may no longer function.
If you have specific questions around ingredients, cleaning/sanitation chemicals and procedures, personnel practices, or other food safety, supply, and distribution changes, reach out to our experts:
- Dairy: Rob Ralyea (rdr10@cornell.edu) and Kimberly Bukowski (krb14@cornell.edu)
- Fresh Produce: Dr. Elizabeth Bihn (eab38@cornell.edu)
- Processed Fruits and Vegetables: Dr. Martin Wiedmann (mw16@cornell.edu) and Dr. Randy Worobo (rww8@cornell.edu)
- Fermented Beverages: Dr. Anna Katharine Mansfield (akm87@cornell.edu) and Chris Gerling (cjg9@cornell.edu)
- All Other Foods: Dr. Olga Padilla-Zakour (oip1@cornell.edu) and Dr. Bruno Xavier (bmx2@cornell.edu)
Our team can also provide process authority services in case you need to change processes and/or formulations. For more information visit the Cornell Food Venture Center and for dairy-related process authority services contact Rob Ralyea (rdr10@cornell.edu).
This work is supported by USDA NIFA AFRI Grant NO:2020-68006-32875/ Accession no. 1024254 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the USDA.