Practicing good food safety habits is paramount to maintaining a healthy kitchen. Regardless of the size of your hotel business or future goals, it makes sense to practice good food handling practices to provide your customers with the safest eating experience. In this post, we’ll review a few simple steps you can undertake to maintain food safety in your kitchen to keep you safe from germs.

#1: Wash Your Hands

For anyone who wants to ensure the safety of people who eat at their facility, it is important to ensure washing hands-on regular intervals, and also, it is important to follow the proper guidelines to wash hands. This is the golden rule for cleanliness. Wash your hands early and often while cooking. Whenever you handle raw food you should wash your hands directly afterward. Always keep hand soap close to your kitchen sink for this specific purpose.

#2: Disinfect Your Cutting Board

Your cutting board is often the resting place for raw meat. Once you’ve finished cooking, you should never miss disinfect your cutting boards. When the cutting board is left uncleaned, it can attract various germs and bacteria that can cause various types of food-borne diseases. It’s easy to forget your cutting board needs disinfecting as you serve dinner. Once the cooking is complete you often overlook this step. But to ensure no pesky bacteria lingers, make sure to wipe this down afterward with a disinfectant.

#3: Take Your Garbage Out Often

Several pathogenic bacteria usually end up in the garbage. After every cooking session, take out the trash. You don’t want to leave harmful bacteria or other foods in the garbage overnight. This is how you end up with pests like roaches or mice. Get food out of your kitchen as soon as possible.

#4: The Meat Thermometer is Your Friend

The way you cook your food, makes a whole difference in how safe it is. To ensure your food is cooked properly, keep a meat thermometer on hand. Information is easily available about using these thermometers so you can also check online to see what the optimal temperature for each type of food is. For example, your chicken should have an internal temperature of 74˚C (165˚F) while most types of fish only require an internal temperature of 70˚C (145˚F).

#5: A Dry Sponge is a Happy Sponge

Every time you’re finished using a sponge, squeeze it so it dries out. Leaving it soaking wet will allow bacteria to collect within it. Also, make sure to scrub your sink with soap at least once a day. Keeping your kitchen surfaces clean requires more vigilance than you may think.

The more safety procedures you follow when handling or cooking food in the kitchen, the better you can ensure the safety of your customers who trust you for their safety. For more useful guidance on food safety at home or to receive your food handling certificate, reach out and contact us today!