Kitchen Hygiene Tips - Health Insurance

April 29, 2011 - PRLog -- In continuing last month's post on personal hygiene, I thought I'd just run you through my own checklist of kitchen hygiene tips. Again, it's not exhaustive but it does have you covered for most dangers.

- When you're preparing food, if you have long hair, tie it back or cover it. Remove jewelry.
- Wash and thoroughly rinse your hands before doing any kitchen work (including cooking); dry them on a paper towel.
- Clean all cooking utensils and work surfaces with an antibacterial agent (read the instructions) before and after using them. If you wash and dry dishes by hand, leave them in a drying rack rather than wiping with a tea-towel.
- Use several cutting boards, scrubbing them and using hot water after you're done. Certainly, use a separate board for meat. Plastic boards can go in the dishwasher and should be regularly replaced.
- Know and apply the minimum temperatures for cooking foods.
- Same goes for refrigerator, freezer and open-air storage times of different foods. Store meat and vegetables separately. Return unused food to the fridge or freezer as quickly as possible.
- Always wash fruit and vegetables before preparing or cooking them.
- If you use a spoon or fork to taste food as you cook, don't use it again until it's been thoroughly cleaned. Use another one instead.
- Hot-wash and frequently replace scrubbing brushes and sponges.
- Food: If it doesn't look right or smell right, then it probably isn't. Toss it!

Where I suggest finding relevant information about temperatures and storage, if this information is not on the label (or there's no label) you'll find it, and other useful information, on the Government's foodsafety.gov site.

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