Basic Food Hygiene Tips

Whether working in a professional kitchen or cooking in your own home, there are certain basic hygiene rules that should be followed. Some of these are outlined here.

Preparation for Cooking

One of the most important things to do is make sure you wash your hands thoroughly to rid them of any bacteria or other unwanted substances. Clean clothes should be worn while making food. You need to make sure jewellery and hair don’t get in the way while you are cooking and should remove any jewellery, and if you have long hair tie it back or use a hair net.

The cooking environment must be clean, so you should make sure any work surfaces you will be using, as well as kitchen equipment, is clean before you begin using them.

While Cooking

After doing anything other than cooking, including using the bathroom and sorting the bins out, you need to wash your hand again before you begin to handle food. You should also wash them after handling meat, fish or eggs to avoid the possibility of cross contamination or spreading bacteria.

It is important to make sure meat, fish, or anything containing eggs is cooked thoroughly; make sure it is cooked all the way through. This will reduce the possibility of food poisoning. Fruit and vegetable should be carefully washed before use. Do not use the same chopping boards for meat and other types of food.

Where necessary make sure food it fully defrosted before being cooked or eaten.

Food Storage

Don’t keep food for longer than is safe to do so. The period food is safe for varies widely depending on the type of food. Most food packaging contains information about this. Always check this before cooking or consuming a particular product. It is especially important that meat products are not used after their used by date. Never use eggs after the best before date as this could result in Salmonella poisoning.

Fridges and freezers need to be kept at a low temperature. A fridge should be below 5 degrees centigrade and a freezer below -18 degrees centigrade.

After Cooking

It may not be everyone’s idea of fun but after cooking everything needs to be cleaned up. All utensils that have been used to prepare a meal must be washed up in hot soapy water. All work surfaces that have been used should be thoroughly cleaned.

There may be food that you have not used to make a meal but you still want to keep. This should be fully covered. For some foods wrapping it in foil may suffice, but for others they may need to be kept in sealable, plastic containers. This is especially wise for meat and dairy products. Tins and packets containing food should not be left open in the fridge or cupboard. Food should be frozen or refrigerated where necessary.

Food hygiene is of crucial importance. It ensures that contamination and food poisoning is avoided. Although important, making sure you are cooking in a safe environment is relatively simple by following some basic rules of food safety.

Andrew Marshall (c)