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REACTIVE ARTHRITIS
A joint inflammation following infection elsewhere in the body (in the bowel in cases of foodborne disease). Yersinia enterocolitica, Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni and E. coli have all been linked to reactive arthritis.

READY-TO-SERVE HAND®
Hands maintained to the operator-specific safe level of cleanliness (RTS hands for RTE food).

REGULATION
A government control (document) that provides technical specifications for the enforcement of statutes. Each state may approve the FDA's Food Code (itself a recommendation only) or provide its own rules regulating the food service industry.

REITER SYNDROME
Features of this syndrome include inflammation of the joints, urinary tract, eyes and ulcerations of the skin and mouth. When a person develops Reiter syndrome through inflammation of the intestinal tract, it usually follows a bout of diarrhea caused by eating foods contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter and Yersinia.

RESTRICT
To limit the activities of a food employee so that there is no risk of transmitting a disease that is transmissible through food and the food employee does not work with exposed food, clean equipment, utensils, linens, or unwrapped single-service or single-use articles.

ROTAVIRUS
This virus causes acute gastroenteritis. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea. Rotaviruses are transmitted fecal-orally. In a food preparation setting, a food handler infected with rotavirus can contaminate any ready-to-eat food by failing to wash his hands after using the toilet. According to the FDA, group A rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and children.

Estimated # of cases annually: 3 million (the number attributed to contaminated food is unknown).