Safe in the kitchen
Design & Technology · Early Years · The School
Washing hands
Warm water, soap, twenty seconds, between the fingers and under the nails, then dry. Twenty seconds is much longer than it feels — it is why people are told to hum something while they do it. Wash again after touching raw meat, eggs or the bin.
Three hazards
HOT: pans, ovens, steam — steam burns worse than boiling water. SHARP: knives, graters, tin lids. SLIPPERY: spills on the floor, wet hands on a handle. Naming a hazard out loud before you start is what a professional kitchen actually does.
Raw and cooked apart
Raw meat, fish and eggs carry bacteria that cooking destroys. If raw meat juice touches food that will not be cooked — salad, bread — the bacteria go straight to the plate. That is CROSS-CONTAMINATION: separate boards, separate plates, wash in between.
Raw chicken is chopped on a board. The same board, unwashed, is then used for salad. The salad is not cooked. Any bacteria from the chicken are now in the salad and nothing will kill them — that is cross-contamination, and it is the commonest cause of food poisoning at home. Fix: separate boards, or wash thoroughly in hot soapy water between, and always wash hands after touching raw meat.