Proper kitchen hygiene safeguards against illness

By Nina C. Zimmermann Feb 13, 2012, 3:05 GMT

Berlin - Practising proper hygiene is the best protection against illness-causing bacteria in the kitchen, according to Lueppo Ellerbroek, head of the Food Hygiene and Safety Concepts unit of Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. To be on the safe side, he said, it is important to always wash up thoroughly, regularly wash one's hands and carefully prepare food.

Ellerbroek said certain rules should be followed. For example it's wrong to prepare raw chicken on a chopping board and then use the uncleaned board to chop lettuce that will be eaten raw. This can cause what is known as cross contamination, in which bacteria from the meat is transferred to the board and then to the lettuce. So food preparation utensils for raw meat should always be kept separate from those for ready-to-eat foods such as salads as well as for foods that have already been cooked.

'Cleanliness provides 99.99 per cent of the protection against illness-causing germs,' Ellerbroek said. He added that it's a good idea to always wash one's hands between individual kitchen tasks, particularly after touching raw food. After food preparation, all of the kitchen utensils and work surfaces that were used should be cleaned with hot water and washing-up liquid.

'Household disinfectants aren't really needed -- washing and drying up are generally sufficient. One shouldn't be consumed by fear,' said Ellerbroek, who discourages the use of disinfectants for more than just environmental reasons. 'It also gives a false sense of security -- some people might not wash up as thoroughly.'

Proper kitchen hygiene applies not only to food preparation and washing up. It also plays an important role in the refrigerator, which should be kept clean. 'Raw or opened foods should always be covered,' Ellerbroek said. 'Vegetables shouldn't be stored on upper shelves. Leftover bits of soil from leeks, for example, could trickle down on other foods.'