One of the most common diseases today is food poisoning. It starts as mild discomfort a few hours after eating and progresses to a life-threatening episode that requires hospitalization.
The most common causes are salmonella e-coli and listeria bacteria. And they can be a common problem in chefs' kitchens.
Common places for bacteria to breed are kitchen towels, dish rags and brushes, cutting boards, kitchen sinks, doorknobs, drawers, and refrigerators. Even small things like timers, crushed handles, pepper grinders, and salt shakers become breeding grounds for bacteria. You can also add oil bottles, seasoning jars, can openers and controls to your stove or oven.
Food itself can be a reservoir for bacteria, the culprits being chicken and other poultry, eggs, raw meat, dairy products and even fresh fruits and vegetables.
In addition to washing your hands regularly while cooking, here is a list of things to do in your kitchen to reduce the chances of food poisoning:
1. Wash the poultry in ice cold water when you bring it home from the supermarket and refrigerate immediately. Get it done as quickly as possible.
2. Wash your hands and anything that comes into contact with raw poultry.
3. Never again wash knives, cutting boards, towels or other items that have come into contact with raw poultry without washing them. That means you don't use a cutting board or knife to chop vegetables or anything else that won't cook right away.
4. Wash your hands after using the toilet. Your family is not immune to your personal E-Coli!
5. Wash all vegetables as soon as you get them from the market. This includes all fruits, including watermelon, strawberries, peaches, mangoes, grapes, and almost any other fruit, including bananas.
6. Use lots of disposable tissue paper. Dishcloths and towels are one of the biggest breeding grounds for bacteria.
7. Keep the kitchen table clean. Use diluted bleach or disinfectant before and after cooking.
8. Refrigerate as much food as possible and read labels for seasonings, sauces, jams, and jellies to see if they need to be refrigerated after opening. DON'T LEAVE MAYONNAIS ON SAFETY DAY ON SUMMER DAY! This also applies to anything prepared with mayonnaise.
9. Wash the eggs thoroughly with ice water before putting them in the refrigerator. There is nothing sterile in the eggs from the chicken coop.
10. Buy your meat, especially hamburgers, from a reputable butcher.
11. Make sure you have a meat thermometer and make sure all meat is cooked to the right temperature to kill harmful bacteria on meat, poultry and fish.
12. Wash your hands!! I can't repeat this enough!
13. Plan your grocery shopping so that after you buy perishables, you can go home.
14. If fish smells like fish, don't buy it! If something smells "off" or not?
You're used to it, don't buy it.
15. If the can or jar whistles when you open it, throw it away, or better yet, take it back to the store.
16. Express things over the sink, not in it. This place is full of bacteria. Sterilize it often, but still don't allow edible food.
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