Kitchen Hygiene: Everything You Need to Know
Kitchen hygiene is a crucial part of kitchen safety, and not something that should be ignored. Ignore kitchen hygiene, and you could find yourself in a world of trouble – with symptoms like vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain, to name a few.
Since no one wants to experience food poisoning or any other kind of foodborne sickness, you need to know how to make your kitchen as safe as can be. From personal experience, we know all too well how easy it can be to let your kitchen descend into a breeding ground for your worst nightmares (thanks, shared university kitchen).
To save you from dealing with these problems, we wanted to put together a quick guide on kitchen hygiene, so you know exactly what to do in your own kitchen.
General Kitchen Hygiene
General kitchen hygiene covers everything from cleaning counters, floors, and appliances. You need to take the time daily, weekly, and monthly to clean your kitchen and make sure everything is up to scratch.
Sponges and Drying Cloths
Kitchen sponges and cloths need to get some special attention every day and week. You need to wash and dry cloths frequently, and ensure that you hang them up in a way that allows them to dry properly. This means no folding or double-folding!
As for kitchen sponges, you can sanitise them using a dishwasher, microwave, or simply by soaking it in vinegar for five minutes. Naturally, bacteria will accumulate on sponges – after all, they are in constant contact with food and grime, and rarely ever dry out properly.
Wipe Counters Down Every Day
You would (not) be surprised to learn that your counters need a good wipe down every day – preferably, even after every time you make something in the kitchen (at least, in the area that you used). Crumbs, spills, stains, it’s so easy to mess your counters up, and cleaning them takes 30 seconds.
Use a disinfectant spray from the store, or you can try your hand at making your own cleaning solutions. If you want to keep things fresh for longer, you can even add some drops of lemongrass essential oil. This will not only keep your kitchen smelling great, but it will help to repel insects, too.
Clean Everything – Including the Kitchen Sink
Give your kitchen a deep clean every week or two weeks, depending on how often you use it and to what extent. Use disinfecting sprays where it’s safe, and never forget to clean that sink.
Use drain unblockers to get the drain clean, and wipe down the tap handles, spout, and anything else you can get your hands on. Make sure you dry up any spilled water or other liquid around the sink, too, as this can damage the counters.
Don’t forget to clean these appliances:
- Oven
- Microwave
- Toaster
- Coffee Machine(s)
- Blenders/Food Processors
Everything accumulates muck and grime, and things like ovens will require some extra work. However, if you use the right products (and follow our guide linked above), you should have a much easier time.
Keep the Fridge Fresh
It’s crucial to not overfill your fridge, as this will impact the airflow. If your airflow is compromised, your food is more likely to go off, and you will just waste money.
Keep foods separate where you can, and use plates or containers to make sure that no liquids drip down. Store cooked food away from raw food (this is especially important for meat and dairy), and keep things covered.
If you don’t keep your food covered, flavours and smells will leak into other dishes. No one wants a cheesecake that smells like lasagna.
Maintain the Right Appliance Temperatures
Keep all your appliances at the right temperature if you want to save money and make sure your food stays safe.
Here are the two important temperatures you need to remember:
- Fridge – 5°C or below
- Freezer – -18°C
Please note that the temperature of your fridge might vary a little bit. Depending on where you live and what the climate is like, you might opt to have a slightly higher or lower temperature. See what works for you, but try not to waste any food in the process.
Cooking and Storing Food
Food that isn’t cooked properly can still be home to bacteria that can make us sick. So, to get rid of the bacteria, you need to get your food to the right temperature.
The internal temperature will vary from food to food, and it can be difficult to know when food is safe to eat if you are not used to cooking. Because of this, we would suggest getting a cooking thermometer if you want to be safe.
If you have been cooking for a long time, you will likely already know the rough times that different foods need to cook in order to be safe.
Cook Foods Thoroughly
As a part of kitchen hygiene, you need to know how to cook your food properly so that it’s safe to eat. You can do this by using a cooking thermometer to see how hot the food is, and determine if it is cooked or not.
These are the most important internal temperatures you need to remember when cooking:
- Poultry – 75°C
- Beef, veal, and lamb – 57°C rare
- Beef, veal, and lamb – 68°C medium
- Beef, veal, and lamb – 74°C well done
- Pork – 65°C medium
- Pork – 71°C well done
- Sausages – 71 °C
- Prawns and scallops – 49°C
- Crab and lobster – 62°C
- Fish – 60°C
Don’t Leave Food Out for Too Long
Food should not be left out at room temperature (or anywhere between 20–25°C) for more than two hours. If it’s warmer, food needs to be chilled within one hour or else you put yourself at risk of experiencing foodborne illnesses.
It’s best to simply pack your food away immediately. That way, you don’t need to worry about dealing with any unpleasant side effects.
However, this should not be done if you are dealing with warm food, like leftovers.
Cool Food Down Before Refrigerating
You should allow your leftovers to reach room temperature before you pack it away. Failing to do this will mean that bacteria is given the perfect conditions to thrive and grow. If this happens, you can subject yourself to a number of illnesses and food poisoning – best avoided.
If you put hot food in the fridge, it can bring the overall temperature up by 5°C or even more. As you already know, this means that the food inside will not be at the optimum temperature, and it will not be protected from the spread of bacteria.
Avoiding Cross-Contamination
Cross-contamination is the leading cause of foodborne illnesses, but it’s so easy to combat. To prevent this from happening, you need to wash your cutlery, crockery, and everything else you use in the kitchen appropriately. This means using soap and hot water, and cleaning everything thoroughly.
You can also avoid cross-contamination by storing your food correctly when in the fridge. Use containers, plates, and bags to keep different foods separate.
Different Chopping Boards for Different Foods
One of the easiest ways to avoid cross contamination is to use different chopping boards for different kinds of food. Coloured chopping boards are the most popular option, with red boards for raw meat, blue for raw fish, brown for root vegetables, green for fruits and vegetables, and so on.
If you are worried about cross-contamination and can’t trust yourself or others to use the appropriate boards for different things, get some boards that make it obvious. By doing this, all the different types of food will be separated, and they will be safe to eat.
Bins and Kitchen Hygiene
On a quick note here, if you want to keep your bins smelling… not like… bins, you can leave a few drops of lemongrass essential oils at the bottom of the bag or the container itself. This will keep it smelling great, and it will keep pests away – win-win.
Separate Your Waste
Separating your waste can make a big difference in your kitchen. Not only does this allow you to recycle what you can, but you or the local council can compost food waste. This means that less will be wasted and you can help the environment while also keeping your kitchen organised.
You can compost your organic waste yourself if you prefer (and are allowed to), as well. This can be fantastic if you want to do gardening, so keep your options open.
Don’t Ignore Kitchen Hygiene
Kitchen hygiene is too important to ignore. While it can be a pain to stay on top of keeping your kitchen clean and sanitary, a few extra minutes a day is worth it when the alternative can be diarrhoea and vomiting.
We wanted to keep this article brief, but if you would like more in-depth kitchen hygiene tips in certain areas of the kitchen, we would love to cover that, too. Whether it’s cooking and storing food, all the ways to avoid cross-contamination, or cleaning, there is so much more to learn.For now, if you want to learn more, we have plenty to explore. From healthy snacks to make at home and how to make rice flour to watering plants with coffee and deboning chicken thighs, you can keep learning.