KITCHEN HYGIENE

The kitchen is a hotspot for bacteria and parasites. This is why good kitchen hygiene during both food preparation and cooking are extremely critical in terms of preventing food borne illnesses. 

Bacteria may sit on kitchen counters, stick to your raw meat, and end up contaminating all those delicious foods. These being germs, they are for the most part responsible for bacteria caused illnesses. Many people tend to assume that diarrhea and other forms of sickness only come due to food poisoning from outside our homes. While you may never guarantee 100% protection against a diversity of food borne illnesses, there are several simple good kitchen hygiene precautions which you can implement towards reducing the risk.

Here are 10 must-follow kitchen hygiene rules: 

Wash Your Hands! Germs can very quickly and easily spread between our hands into food, so keeping clean hands before initiating in any food handling process is essential. Washing hands properly when you are going to touch raw meat, especially after visiting the toilet or using the kitchen bin significantly helps in reducing the spread of several types of harmful bacteria. 

Proper Food Storage: is as critical as correct cooking. When storing cooked food in your fridge or cooler, ensure it is at room temperature or even lower. Placing warm food inside a fridge implies it has not cooled evenly and could as such, cause food poisoning.

Cook Food Thoroughly: you are perhaps thinking this is obvious stuff! But you will be surprised by the number of people who actually under cook their food. With under cooked food, there is a higher risk of harmful bacteria getting ingested which may trigger food poisoning. All animal foods ought to be cooked to a minimum of 170 ° F, if you want to get rid of viruses, bacteria, and parasites which bring food borne illnesses.

Clean Up and Down: after cooking, keeping a clean kitchen is very important. It is estimated that the average kitchen chopping board carries more faecal bacteria compared to the average toilet seat. Damp kitchen sponges and washing brushes are known bacteria havens. Washing your kitchen and wiping down your equipment with the good hygiene products greatly reduces cross-contamination risk dramatically. 

BY STEPHANIE E. HEMEN