Food and Kitchen Safety 101

For only 30 minutes let your kitchen counter tops and grime-free gas ranges inspire you to a domestic goddess greatness!

We all know that our kitchen is where we do our chopping, slicing-and cross-contaminating.

And we should know about kitchen hygiene isn't just about cleaning up after we are done doing our chores; it's also how we SELECT, STORE, and PREPARE our meals.

This will help us on some ways we can keep our food-and family SAFE.

BUYING SAFE FOOD

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• In buying food, buy only from reputable food sellers.
• Buy the chilled or frozen food.  This way they are still within their ascribed temperatures by the time you reach home.  Do not stay long in perusing the grocery or in a mall.
• Inspect your food for damaged packaging; holes and tears increases the chances of food to get contaminated with bacteria.

STORING FOOD PROPERLY

Refrigerator

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• Keep the raw food on the lower shelves and the cooked food above.  This way the drips won't contaminate ready-to-eat food.
• NEVER put hot food in the ref, this will cause the temperature to rise inside.
• Cover food well to prevent it from becoming contaminated and from drying out so that its quality will be maintained.
• Always CLOSE the ref door immediately after you get something inside.  This will help maintain the correct temperature inside the ref.

Freezer

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• Never re-freeze food which have been thawed but was not used.  This is because the food will have risen in temperature, which could allow bacteria on it to become more active and begin to multiply.

KEEP EVERYTHING CLEAN-INCLUDING YOURSELF

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• Tie your hair back, wash hands, and scrub your nails clean.
• Never cough, sneeze, spit, or smoke over the food.
• Cover up skin infections, cuts, and grazes.
• Wear a clean apron.
• Do not lick fingers or spoons and then touch the food.  A big NO NO.
• Regularly wash and clean work surfaces/area.
• Keep utensils clean and well stored.
• Wipe spills as they occur.
• Use different chopping boards for different food to prevent cross-contamination. E.g if you are cut with a blades/knife, a tiny grooves left in the cutting boards.  These grooves can harbor germs and bacteria, which can be transferred to the next type of food that you place on the board.