One of the jobs I did for a short while was a dinner lady at my son’s school.  Naturally given the role I was in I had to educate myself about food safety.  I thought it might be worth sharing some of the advice I learnt here.  I know lots of people lately who have had illnesses from eating contaminated food.  The tell-tale signs are vomiting, stomach cramps and a loss of appetite.

Storage Temperature

It’s so important to make sure food is stored correctly.  You need to check that the temperature is cool enough to preserve the food and make sure bacteria doesn’t develop.  Some bigger businesses will invest in a cold room, which is a great option to store meat and poultry.  If you have a cold room, make sure you also have a thermometer on the wall to check its working as it should.

It’s important to confirm that the cold room doors are insulated so they don’t let any warmth in from outside.  You also need to make sure you don’t overfill your cold room.  Air needs to circulate for to work optimally.

Wash Your Hands

This is so obvious, but sadly some people still need reminding!  Always wash your hands before preparing food to stop germs from spreading.  It’s recommended that you use liquid soap over an alcoholic hand gel.  The NHS have a best way to wash your hands guide and it’s well worth a quick read.  Apparently washing your hands can reduce the risk of diarrhoea by nearly 50% so before you get dinner ready give your hands a decent scrub!

Storing Food

Let food cool before you store it in the fridge, freezer or cold room.  The reason for this is it raises the temperature in there if you add it straight away.  Bacteria will use that window of opportunity to grow!  Also make sure you separate raw and cooked food.  Ideally you will have two separate places to store them.  But if not place the raw food below the cooked food.  This minimizes the risk of contamination.

Clean Your Fridge

Those nasties that cause us to get unwell grow much slower when it’s cool.  But they can still grow so do make sure you regularly clean out your fridge.  A deep clean of your fridge is recommended every 3 to 6 months.  I think my fridge is overdue this, so will make it a priority this weekend!  There are definitely a few food items best there best hiding in there.

Cook Your Food Well

It is recommended you cook food to at least 75°C to kill any bacteria.  It’s worth having a food thermometer to check your happy with the temperature. Any food with egg should be cooked carefully.  Your chicken and sausages shouldn’t be pink.  They need to be cooked through.

Some people eat their steaks quite pink.  Personally, I don’t fancy them like that, but it is considered quite safe having steaks or lamb pink in the middle as the outside has been well cooked killing any bacteria.

Hopefully these food safety tips will stop the tummy upsets in your house!