Aug 05, 2021

Tips To Maintain A Hygienic Kitchen

The kitchen is the most important part of a home where healthy and nutritious meals are created. Whether large or small, it is a place where the family members meet and reconnect. In fact, some of our best times and the warmest memories are made inside the kitchen. While handling and preparing food, maintaining good kitchen hygiene is always essential to remain worry-free and prevent any foodborne illnesses.

Here in this post, we’ll offer some tips to maintain a hygienic kitchen:

Wash hands frequently

As per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you must wash your hands before, during, and after preparing food. In a kitchen, you may be touching packages of each food item you are cooking and then all the actual food, kitchen tools, and appliances. This could easily cause the germs to spread. Just rinsing your hands in water is not enough, as the CDC recommends you to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap. If you are touching food you’re going to eat, make sure you wash your hands for the right amount of time. Wash hands after:

Touching raw ingredients
Handling uncooked seafood, meat, poultry, flour, or eggs
After wiping counters or cleaning other surfaces
After touching pets or pet food
After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose

Thoroughly clean your cooking utensils

Keeping your kitchen utensils clean, including worktops and chopping boards, is essential to prevent bacteria from growing and spreading. Before preparing the food, wash dishes, pots, pans, and detachable pieces such as blades or handles in hot soapy water. After washing, rinse them in clean water to remove any excess soap. Dishwater is also an effective way to clean utensils, given that hot water is used to kill bacteria. Likewise, it is important to wash dish cloths in the hot cycle of your washing machine.

Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly

Clean fruits, vegetables, and non-vegetarian items thoroughly under cold running tap water. There are many microorganisms attached to raw food items that you won’t be able to look at through naked eyes. A vegetable and fruit disinfectant works best to kill bacteria, viruses, fungus, and other pathogens present on the surface of vegetables and fruits.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, you should not wash raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb, or veal before cooking as it may cause the bacteria to spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces, leading to foodborne illnesses. To keep your meat bacteria-free, cook it at a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (whether frying, baking, broiling, boiling, or grilling). For quality, allow the meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming.

Separate raw and ready to eat foods

Raw meat may contain Salmonella, E. coli, Yersinia, and other bacteria, so it is important to keep the raw foods separate from ready-to-eat foods. You can use containers to keep food such as meat, fish, and fruits in a different compartment of the fridge to avoid cross-contamination. Freeze them if you’re not planning to use them within a few days. Take care that the juices from raw meat or seafood should not be dripping onto other foods in the refrigerator. If possible, use one cutting board for fresh fruits and vegetables and the other for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. Likewise, use separate plates and utensils for cooked and raw foods.

About Macaron Queen

We make dozens of delectable macaron flavors, including red velvet, key lime, champagne, and french raspberry. Our macarons are often said to taste better than the originals from France. What started as a personal passion for making delectable, edible treasures for close friends and family quickly became a fast-growing business. We now make these treats for private parties, celebrities, fashion spreads, music videos, and movie sets.

You can reach out to us at (908) 867-8336. You can also fill our online contact form here.