Helpful Guide to Food Safety and Kitchen Clean-up - guest column

As most readers know, I normally don't post comments that contain links to commercial sites.  I get quite of lot of these, and in most cases, the writers are just trying to get clicks on their own sites.

However, occasionally a message comes along with useful information.   I received an invitation recently to publish a guide to food safety and kitchen clean-up.  This came from Cleaning Building Services New York.

A Guide to Food Safety and Kitchen Clean Up

An essential part of preparing a meal is making sure to use the proper food safety techniques. Without proper safety protocols your food can become contaminated and pass along foodborne illnesses to whomever eats or comes in contact with it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 48 million Americans become sick from foodborne illnesses each year. Of those 48 million people, 128,000 are so sick that they need to be hospitalized, and 3,000 people even die from the foodborne illness. To prevent foodborne illness from happening to you or your family, it is important to practice food safety protocols while handling, preparing, and storing all of your meals.

Cleaning Up the Kitchen

Keeping your kitchen clean is an important step in food safety. After each meal, it is important to clean and sanitize all surfaces where food was prepared or handled. All surfaces should be washed thoroughly with hot water and soap. For a deeper clean the surfaces can even be washed with a diluted chemical mixture of 1 tablespoon bleach and one gallon of water. All cooking appliances used when preparing the meal should also be washed thoroughly inside and out. An important step that most people tend to forget about is cleaning out your refrigerator. You should be going through your refrigerator once a week to discard any expired items to prevent growing bacteria. Vegetables and Fruits should also be rinsed under water before being consumed to get rid of any pesticide residue. You should always clean your hands thoroughly after touching any raw meats or fish as well, this will help prevent transporting harmful bacteria.

Know Your Temps

Foodborne Illness is caused by harmful bacteria, some of the most common being Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus. This harmful bacteria can be consumed by eating undercooked foods and can be prevented by making sure all food is being cooked to their accurate internal temperatures. This can be done by using a kitchen thermometer. Checking the internal temperature is especially important when preparing foods like meats, fish, poultry, and eggs. Before preparing a new recipe, be sure to research what temperatures your ingredients should be kept at to avoid them being in a danger zone for the harmful bacteria.

Food Organization

When buying food at the grocery store, look for broken seals and damaged containers before putting them in the cart. Also, be sure to check expiration or sell by dates to only purchase fresh and safe to eat foods. When cashing out in the register line, be sure that your meat or fish is packaged separately to avoid juices spreading onto your other foods. Separation is key when storing your foods away at home as well. You should always store raw meat or seafood below any other foods in your refrigerator and place them in plastic bags to avoid contamination. If possible, use different cutting boards and other cooking utensils for meats or fish and veggies. If not, be sure to clean them thoroughly in between each use. Doing this will lessen the chances of leftover bacteria being transported from your raw meats or fish to your cut veggies and fruits.

Source: Cleaning Building Services

Other material from this source will appear on this blog from time to time.

Declaration:  Safe Food Blog does not endorse Cleaning Building Services, not does it have any pecuniary interest in the company.