How can you avoid cross-contamination in your kitchen?

Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria, allergens, or other substances from one food, surface, or utensil to another. It can cause food poisoning, allergic reactions, or spoilage. As a culinary manager, you need to know how to prevent cross-contamination in your kitchen and ensure food safety and hygiene standards. Here are some tips to help you avoid cross-contamination in your kitchen.

In the area of food business, hand washing is vital. Wearing gloves and/or using hand sanitizer must not be considered as an alternative to hand washing. To ensure proper hand washing, all food premises must be equipped with as many as hand washing sinks needed throughout the premises. All such sinks must be equipped with hot and cold running potable water under pressure, liquid soap in dispenser, and clean towels or adequate supplies of paper towels throughout the operating hours.

wash hands before preparing food make sure any surfaces you are using for food prep are clean if possible, use different utensils, plates and chopping boards for raw and cooked food wash utensils, plates and chopping boards for raw and cooked food thoroughly between tasks make sure you do not wash raw meat wash your hands after touching raw food and before you handle ready-to-eat food cover raw food, including meat, and keeping it separate from ready-to-eat food in the fridge store covered raw meat, poultry, fish and shellfish on the bottom shelf of your fridge use any dish that has a lip to prevent spillages from the raw foods use different utensils, plates and chopping boards for raw and cooked food, if possible

First and Foremost when washing your hands, make sure your hand sink is set up properly. The Sink must un-blocked, must have warm to comfortably hot water, soap, paper towels and a waste receptical. Wash your hands for 20 seconds making sure you get hands soaped from the front and back and to the wrist

One thing we often forget is to wash your hands after handling your phone, tablet, or using the computer before getting back into the kitchen. These items can be pretty dirty and washing after using electronics can be an oversight.

Not only washing with hot water and soap, but sanitizing these cutting boards with appropriate sanitizers is also very crucial. Furthermore, colour coding of cutting boards can be very useful.

?? ?? ??????????-???????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????? ??????????-??????????????????????????. ● Identify color-coding areas like food prep, storage, & equipment. ● Select easily distinguishable colors for specific tasks or areas. → ???????????????? ????????????, e.g. ?? Red - Raw meat ?? Blue - Raw fish ?? Yellow - Cooked meat ?? Green - Fruits & Vegetables ?? White - Dairy & Bakery items ?? Brown - Root vegetables ?? Purple - Free from products ● Create a color-coding chart outlining colors for specific tasks or areas. ● Label equipment, utensils, containers, & areas with the appropriate colors to reinforce the system. ● Train staff on the system. ● Conduct audits to ensure system compliance.

Make sure your surface area is clean before using your cutting board. Use different color coded cutting boards if possible for Raw foods like proteins and another different colored board for Produce.Use different knives for different prep jobs. and always properly clean and sanitize your kitchen knives and equipment.

Wet?your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap. Lather?your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Scrub?your hands?for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice. Rinse?your hands well under clean, running water. Dry?your hands using a clean towel or an air dryer.

Believe in yourself then others, otherwise you will forget yourself ?? To be most Successful in Life, Just remember yourself why you have come into this world and forget the problems that you faced in Lifetime but never forget the lessons that those problems Taught You. Don't give up because the beginning is always the Hardest. Everything can be changed by our mind, Since Everything is a reflection of our Mind. The purpose of Life is to be Happy in What you have achieved not in what you get.

To verify your refrigerators are in good working conditions, please equip your refrigerators with appropriate thermometers. Also, keeping track of fridges’ temperatures is essential. Food must be stored in food-graded containers at all times. Keeping food out of danger zone at all times is vital to food safety.

Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from other foods in your grocery-shopping cart and in your refrigerator. Use plastic bags to prevent juices from dripping onto other foods

Ensure you have some type of daily check for your temperatures and food storage in place. You must document and ensure everyone is aware of any issues found.

Again this is a ongoing training item. As much as you teach and demonstrate the procedure for FIFO. Your staff must know that there will be an inspection at any given time. However if you are not watching for proper food rotation this not only affect spoilage but will eventually diminish your bottom line.

In my experience, one of the ways that I have seen front line cooks risk food safety is by using the same knife to cut raw products, wipe the knife off with a towel and then cut ready to eat items. A cook I trained after I saw them do this stated “since I cannot see the bacteria, I do not stop to think about it” Train and retrain until it sticks

Also, it’s important to check out the strength of sanitizing solutions in a regular basis. Test Strips can be proven very useful. Furthermore, cracked, broken or rusted equipment and/or utensils must not be used in food premises.

By following simple steps such as using separate cutting boards, utensils, and dishes for raw and cooked food, storing food properly, washing kitchen utensils after each use, and not washing raw meat. You can reduce the risk of harmful bacteria and prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses. Remember to follow up.

One thing I've found that is extremely helpful is creating and using some type of a cleaning schedule for daily, weekly, and monthly items in your establishment. Schedule these items consistently and ensure that they are getting done. The more often you clean the upkeep is easy, but if you wait until it's dirty it'll take forever to get it clean.

countertops, cutting boards, and utensils thoroughly after each use. Use hot, soapy water and a sanitizing solution (e.g., a mixture of one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of water) to ensure proper disinfection.

Teach everyone in your kitchen about the importance of food safety and cross-contamination prevention to ensure that everyone follows these guidelines. Training is ongoing it never stops.

Education is always the key to success! Keep yourself and your employees up-to-date on Food Safety via ongoing training programs.

Proper training, having a clear HACCP plan and sign off by staff and management. The guidelines for safe, sustainable food handling must be maintained by all staff

Human error is always a possibility. Listen, I've written employee manuals and SOPs for a living. And one thing I know to be true. Employees will only do what you inspect. Sticking forms and posters on the wall is Not effective training if you're not following up with your staff on a daily basis. The SOPs and systems you want your team to follow must be followed consistently.

Coach, teach, and direct your team everyday during every shift to ensure best practices are in place. Catch your team doing it right with praise and coach when the situation comes.

STAY VIGILANT as a manager. cross-contamination and other facets of food safety are not set it and forget it things. Its natural when things get busy for steps to get missed, or short cuts to be taken. A manager has to ensure that these natural factors don't result in cross-contamination or other risks.

Whenever you deal with food products, it is extremely important to avoid contamination. The easiest way to contaminate is to wash your hands. After all, your hands can carry bacteria to other surfaces, to plates and glasses, to cooked food, and even to you when you touch your own face. Here is an interesting statistic: a?study?showed that the average human hand has about 150 types of bacteria at any given time. Think about how many more bacteria could be on your hands when you have been handling food. When You Should Wash Your Hands The most important thing to remember is that handling foods means frequent hand washing. You should always wash your hands immediately after touching any raw meats, including meat, fish, and chicken.