Kitchen Sanitation

What’s the basic requirement to make clean and healthy food? But of course it’s a clean kitchen! A hygienic surrounding should be ensured in all food preparation activities at all times.

The utensils used for food preparation need to be scrubbed well using soap or detergent and hot water and rinsed with clean water. Since surfaces in the food preparation area tend to get dirty easily, they should be washed after each use. One needs to pay special attention to the rim around the sink and also the crevices between the tiles, which holds a lot of grime. Cooking equipments such as the cooking range, oven and mixers too need regular cleaning.

A very common source of contamination of foods is from the chopping and cutting boards. Wooden chopping boards tend to harbour harmful microorganisms on their surface. Extra attention needs to be placed on the foods that would be cut on the chopping boards but would be served without any heating. For example, salads. Raw meats might contain harmful microorganisms. Hence, they must not be cut on the same cutting boards used for vegetables that will be consumed raw to prevent cross contamination and food borne illnesses.

Chopping boards should be washed by scrubbing vigorously with soap and hot water or chlorine solution and then rinsed thoroughly to eliminate microorganisms. For easy maintenance, plastic chopping boards are preferred over wooden ones.

Kitchen towels or cloth used for wiping should be clean, dry and kept separately for this purpose. Kitchen area such as tabletops, countertops, area below the sink area, chairs and floor should be cleaned using soap and water. Bleach operates as a good disinfectant after cleaning if surface has been in contact with raw meat or eggs.

Last but not the least, washing of hands with soap is important to prevent contamination of food by bacteria.