If you’ve never taken a food safety and sanitation course, you may not realize potential hazards lurking in an unclean kitchen. The primary hazard, which is also the most easily avoided, is food borne illness. Often referred to as “food poisoning,” a food borne illness is a disease carried or transmitted to people by food. Millions of people come down with food borne illnesses each year; however, the majority of the cases do not come from restaurants but from right at home.
If you have a weak stomach or are eating right now, you might want to skip this paragraph. The primary way food borne illness spreads is through microscopic particles of feces on the hands of the food preparer. In other words: you have poo-poo on your hands. I know that sounds utterly gross, but it’s true. Most people do not wash their hands properly, or at all, after using the restroom. The CDC’s website has some great info on proper hand-washing procedures and avoiding potential hazards.
Another potential way for food borne illness to spread is cross-contamination. An example of cross-contamination would be using the same cutting board to cut raw chicken and veggies without sanitizing it between uses. A good idea is to have different cutting boards for various items. I use a bamboo cutting board for my fruits and vegetables, and a plastic one for meats. Also, it is important to prevent things in the refrigerator from dripping onto one another. The cold of the refrigerator often does not kill the bacteria, but simply hibernates it. Always put raw meats on the bottom shelves.
Since this is probably the least appetizing thing I’ve ever written, I figure any recipe included might not sound very tempting. So instead, here is a recipe from a vintage church cookbook I found.
Happy Home:
1 cup Love
1 cup Thoughtfulness
1 cup Friendship
1 pinch Tenderness
1 dash Loyalty
1 Tbsp Compassion
1 tsp Singing and Laughing
Season to taste with Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Blend together then moisten with tears of Joy, Sorrow, and Sympathy. Bake in a pan of Good Nature. Serve repeatedly.
As always,
Stay hungry my friends.
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Thanks for the reminder. I just cleaned out my fridge as a matter of fact this weekend.
Sing your ABC’s while washing your hands!
when my daughter was in pre-school, the most fun was “washing up” time. they had this foaming blueberry soap, I can still smell it. I love washing my hands and it is a rule around here before one cooks or eats.
My son had a serious staph infection and we still have not a clue where it came from? Washing up is serious.
pve
Good job writing about a very important subject. At a local restaurant in our town a cook cut raw chicken and then used the same knife to cut watermelon for the buffet. A three year old girl died as a result of this easily avoided mistake.
Hand washing is not just to prevent the spread of colds and flu.
Loved the recipe too!!
Sing your ABC’s while washing your hands!
My dad is a retired pediatrician. We grew up with hand-washing lectures and seatbelt-wearing lectures that fortunately stuck with us!
I owned a franchise awhile back and had to take a food certification class. Everyone should take a class like this, it opens your eyes to what’s out there and what dirty hands can do to food UGG
I took Pre-med classes in High School where we learned all about proper hand washing and the nasty things that can travel on your hands. It really is very important!! Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for the reminder!
Cute article!
Yikes! Good info!
Nice hands…are those yours Martin? haha
Nice info. I am still grossed out.. I think I’ll go wash my hands.
I’m even more vigilant now that I have a 2 year old. Although, despite my best efforts she still sticks the most awful things in her mouth.