Ten Things You Can Do to Prevent Food Poisoning

These tips are not just for people who work in restaurants or food factories, they are for people who cook food in the kitchen at home. After all, the last thing you would want to do is poison your own family! While to most people many of these tips will appear like basic advice they are the best things to do to prevent food poisoning…

Washing Your Hands

We start off with the most simplest of things, yet also the most important. You should be washing your hands with warm, soapy water and washing them as long as it takes you to sing the “Happy Birthday” song to yourself. Don’t rush the song, just sing it at a normal pace.

Keep Worktops Cleaner Than The Floor!

You might think the floor of a food preparation area or a kitchen should be the cleanest of all the surfaces, but it is worktops that cause the most cases of food poisoning. If you have been chopping, or just preparing raw meat, even if it was in the packet you still need to wash them down with hot, soapy water.

Swap Dishcloths Weekly

Your dishcloth might look clean, but it is the perfect place for breeding germs and other things that cause food poisoning. Swap them weekly at least, but at best every few days. Then wash the used ones in antibacterial cleaning fluid.

Know Your Chopping Boards

If you have a set of chopping boards the chances are they have particular uses for each colour. Knowing which board is for what can help you avoid contaminating foods especially if you cook with a lot of raw meat.

Learn You Use Your Own Fridge

Where is the raw meat located in your fridge? Did you know it should always be placed in the bottom shelf? What about eggs, milk? These things have a special place in your fridge and reading the instruction manuals will help you learn them. You should also learn what temperature it should be at and of course, NEVER overload it as the air will not circulate properly.

Keep Raw Meat Away From EVERYTHING!

If you plan on making a bacon sandwich or a family roast, keep the raw meat away from everything including fruits and vegetables and this should help prevent any sort of cross-contamination from happening.

Learn To Cook Meat Thoroughly

While most people can claim to know how to cook bacon or a turkey roast, what you might not know is the perfect time and temperature to cook that food for. Different meats have different colours of uncooked meat so learning them all by watching a YouTube video.

Remember to Eat Those Pre-Prepared or Leftover Foods Quickly

Did you know you should be eating all pre-prepared meals or leftover means within just 2 days? And that goes if the food is placed in the fridge or the freezer!

It’ll Be OK, is NOT OK!

The sniff test is NOT a good way to tell if food is OK to eat once it has passed its sell-by or use-by date. Those dates are there for a reason and consuming goods when they are past this date is dangerous at best and life-threatening at worst.

The 5 Second Rule

If food touches the floor then leave it on the floor or chuck it in the bin! There is no such thing as the 5-second rule and even if you clean the food up, you should then be washing your hands once again.