Avoid kitchen contamination

The cause of foodborne diseases mostly originates from the food source. However, factors causing infections arising in other stages such as unclean kitchen utensils, cooks' hands, dirty kitchen environment, etc. are factors that many housewives do not pay attention to, especially in rural and mountainous areas. There are simple principles to practice safe cooking.

Wash your hands thoroughly:Hands contain the most bacteria due to work, contact with pathogens: pets, plants, daily cleaning... so before preparing food, you need to wash your hands. It is best to wash your hands with soap.

Clean kitchen utensils:Kitchen utensils from dishwashing sponges, chopsticks to sinks, stovetops, knives, cutting boards, bowls, and hand towels all contain a lot of bacteria. Therefore, first of all, when entering the kitchen, the cook needs to clean the kitchen utensils. Not only that, many families only use one cutting board or knife to cut both cooked and raw foods, so the risk of cross-contamination is very high. Do not use utensils such as knives and cutting boards for raw and cooked foods mixed in cooking. For example: when cutting fresh foods such as meat, fish, and seafood, after use, you must wash them thoroughly, drain them, then pour boiling water over them before using them to cut cooked foods. Similarly, utensils such as sinks and baskets are the same, for example, the basin used to wash meat and fish cannot wash vegetables, especially raw vegetables and fruits.

In addition to preparing delicious, clean and hygienic food, washing dishes, chopsticks and spoons is also very important. Leftover food must be scraped off before washing dishes and chopsticks (you can use new rice water to wash). Do not soak dishes and chopsticks in the basin for too long, this will cause grease and food odors to not be washed away but will stick and bacteria will have the opportunity to grow. If the dishes are not washed clean afterwards, they can easily become contaminated.

Therefore, to avoid infection, it is necessary to follow ten "golden rules": choose fresh, clean food; prepare food with clean water; eat cooked food, drink boiled water, soak thoroughly, wash vegetables and fruits when eating raw; eat food immediately after cooking; do not eat spoiled food; cover and carefully preserve cooked food; boil food thoroughly before re-using; keep raw and cooked food separate; do not use mixed cooking utensils; wash hands before preparing and before eating; keep cooking utensils dry and clean.

According to SKDS