What You Need To Know Before You Start Cooking For Others
It is easy for you to spread bacteria to food without realising.
These bacteria are invisible and could make your family, friends and guests ill.
Your personal hygiene is important.
This is what you need to do to keep food safe:
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Before You Start Working With Food And Cooking In The Kitchen?
Always wash your hands
Wear clean clothes
Wear an apron if handling unwrapped food
If you have vomiting or diarrhoea as an illness do not, cook and work with food
Take off your watch and jewellery
It is a good idea to tie hair back and wear a hat or hairnet
When You Are Working With Food
No smoking
No eating or drinking
Avoid touching your face, coughing or sneezing over food
Cover cuts with a brightly coloured waterproof dressing
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Washing Hands Effectively
Step 1: Wet your hands thoroughly under warm running water and squirt liquid soap onto your palm
Step 2: Rub your hands together palm to palm to make a lather
Step 3: Rub the palm of one hand along the back of the other and along the fingers. Repeat with the other hand
Step 4: Put your palms together with fingers interlocked and rub in between each of the fingers thoroughly
Step 5: Rub around your thumbs on each hand and then rub the fingertips of each hand against your palms
Step 6: Rinse off the soap with clean water and dry your hands thoroughly on a disposable towel. Turn off the tap with the towel and then throw the towel away
When To Wash Hands
Before touching any food, especially ready-to-eat food
After going to the toilet
After every break
After touching raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs or unwashed vegetables
After touching a cut or changing a dressing
After touching or emptying bins
After any cleaning
After touching phones, light switches, door handles and cash registers
At Work Business Cleaning Teams
In general cleaning teams are focusing on ‘regular high touch’ areas, where the spread of viruses is more likely, carefully wiping down with strong disinfectant every day this includes:
- Hard surfaces: reception areas, kitchen areas, breakout areas and toilets
- Control pads: vending machines, photocopiers and lifts
- Door handles: main entrances, hall floor entrances, meeting rooms, stairways and toilet entrances, as well as exit push buttons
- Handrails, poles and bannisters
By using enhanced fluids with anti-viral qualities, the aim is to make it even safer.
Public Health England urges everyone to wash their hands regularly throughout the day, before eating and when arriving at work or home.
West Africa Cooks
Editor