Kitchen Hygiene

Kitchen Hygiene

How can I make my kitchen safer?

• Always ensure you wash your hands, before and after handling food and even more importantly after handling different types of food such as raw and cooked meat. This will help you avoid the problems associated with cross contamination. Please note, see to it that you don’t wash your hands in the kitchen sink
• When preparing food make sure you don’t touch your hair, nose or mouth
• Ensure you keep cuts, burns or grazes covered, with a clean waterproof plaster or any other appropriate aid
• Even if some foods such as vegetables, fruit and salads look clean, see to it that you soak them in clean cold water for a few minutes, before rinsing
• Raw poultry should be washed before reparation too. Once you have finished with the rinsing, pat dry with a paper towel. Next, see to it that you thoroughly wash and disinfect the sink and any other work surfaces and utensils that came into contact with the bird
• A good kitchen safety tip is to have separate plastic chopping boards for meat, poultry, fish and vegetables, to avoid the risk of cross contamination still further
• Washing kitchen utensils between preparing cooked and raw food is a necessity
• Whatever you do don’t place cooked food on surfaces that have just had raw meat, fish or poultry on them
• See to it that you regularly disinfect surfaces and keep them dry
• If you wash-up by hand as opposed to using a dishwasher ensure you do so in hot soapy water and rinse crockery and utensils under running water to remove the suds and detergent
• See to it that you change tea towels, dish cloths and disinfect work surfaces on a daily basis to combat bacteria
• Where possible try and keep your pets out of the kitchen and definitely off work surfaces and tables

 Source: OPH Good - Housekeeping