Explain the rules of personal and kitchen hygiene when handling food and justify each with the reason it prevents contamination

What this dot point is asking

The syllabus wants you to know the rules of personal and kitchen hygiene when handling food, and to justify each one by the reason it prevents contamination and illness. The central idea is that harmful bacteria are invisible and can be carried on hands, equipment and raw foods, so every hygiene rule is really a way of stopping bacteria from reaching the food people eat.

The answer

Why hygiene matters

Food poisoning is caused by harmful bacteria getting into food, multiplying, and being eaten. Good hygiene breaks this chain by keeping bacteria off the food in the first place. Bacteria are too small to see, so a cook must follow the rules even when food looks clean.

Personal hygiene

• Wash hands with soap and warm water before handling food, and again after using the toilet, handling raw meat, touching the bin, blowing the nose, or touching hair. This removes bacteria from the hands.
• Tie back hair and wear a clean apron to stop hair, fibres and bacteria from clothing falling into food.
• Cover cuts with a waterproof (often blue) dressing, because cuts can harbour bacteria.
• Do not cough, sneeze or touch the face over food, and do not taste with the cooking spoon and return it, to avoid spreading bacteria from the nose and mouth.
• Keep nails short and clean and remove jewellery where bacteria can collect.
• Stay away from food preparation when ill, especially with stomach upsets.

Kitchen and equipment hygiene

• Clean work surfaces, boards and equipment with hot soapy water before and after use.
• Use separate chopping boards and knives for raw meat and for ready-to-eat foods such as salad, to prevent cross-contamination.
• Use clean cloths and tea towels, and change them often, because dirty cloths spread bacteria.
• Keep pets out of the kitchen and cover food to protect it from pests and dust.
• Dispose of waste promptly in a covered bin and keep the bin away from food.

Cross-contamination: the key danger

Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria from one food (usually raw) to another (often ready-to-eat) by direct contact or through hands, surfaces, boards or utensils. Because raw meat, poultry and seafood often carry bacteria, the most important rule is to keep them, and anything that touches them, away from ready-to-eat foods.

Examples in context

Example 1. A home cook preparing chicken rice. Because the chicken is raw, the cook washes hands and the board after handling it, keeps the cooked chicken away from the raw board, and prepares the cucumber garnish separately. These steps stop Salmonella from the raw chicken reaching the parts of the dish eaten without further cooking.

Example 2. A hawker stall's hygiene grade. Singapore hawker stalls display a hygiene grade, reflecting practices such as clean surfaces, proper handwashing and safe food storage. The grading system rewards exactly the hygiene rules above, because they are what keep customers safe from food poisoning.

Try this

• Cue. State four personal-hygiene rules for handling food, each with a reason. Recall washing hands, tying hair, covering cuts and not coughing over food, each linked to keeping bacteria off the food.
• Cue. Define cross-contamination and give one way to prevent it. Recall the transfer of bacteria from raw to ready-to-eat food, prevented by separate boards or thorough washing.
• Cue. Explain why a cook should not taste food with the cooking spoon and return it. Link it to transferring bacteria from the mouth into the whole dish.