Padraig Costello May 24, 2011:

A useful site for this is www.grammarbook.com Example: When adverbs not ending in -ly are used as compound words in front of a noun, hyphenate. When the combination of words is used after the noun, do not hyphenate.
Examples:
The well-known actress accepted her award.
Well is an adverb followed by another descriptive word. They combine to form one idea in front of the noun.
The actress who accepted her award was well known.
Well known follows the noun it describes, so no hyphen is used.

Liz Dexter (was Broomfield) May 24, 2011:

That's true. I tend to under hyphenate but indeed, some nice hyphens in there will distinguish the two more clearly for the eventual reader.

Armorel Young May 24, 2011:

hyphens... ... would make the original much clearer. If it had been written as "non-food-handling food tasks" the meaning would probably have been clear from the outset. Likewise, "non-food-handling tasks" is clearer and makes more sense than "non-food handling tasks"