How to avoid Food Cross Contamination.
Contaminated food is one of the causes of food poisoning which affects the human body in adverse ways which could lead to ill health.
Come along and let us find out what food cross contamination is and how we can avoid it.
Cross contamination
In simple terms cross contamination is the way bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms get around areas where food is being produced and handled. These organisms do not move on their own. There has to be a human factor a sort of vehicle to transfer these organisms to the food. The only way to control this is by effective hygiene practices.
How We can Avoid Food Cross Contamination
Below are some tips to help you avoid food cross contamination:
- Ensure colour coding is used consistently and rigorously, e.g. boards, knives, cloths etc.
- Make sure hand hygiene is observed meticulously with thorough training and supervision as well as provision of washing facilities.
- If disposable gloves are worn, treat them as disposable, and wash hands before and after use.
- Correctly stack and store in refrigerators and chilled display units. Ideally, separate units for raw and high risk.
- Use disposable, single use cloths.
- Ensure surfaces are cleaned and disinfected before preparing foods, and especially between raw and high risk foods.
- Use separate utensils for different food types.
- Wash salad, crops and vegetables thoroughly in a clean, sanitized sink under running water to get rid of bacteria, viruses and chemicals present on the produce which can cause food borne illnesses.
- Do not wash your chicken – there is no need to, if you cook it thoroughly. If you do wash it, you’ll just end up spreading unseen Campylobacter bacteria around your kitchen.
- Be aware, that allergens can contaminate food too.
On a final note, food should be stored and handled in a way that prevents them coming into contact with each other, good hand washing technique also goes a long way in preventing contamination.