SHARING ISN’T CARING!

Karina’s Anti-contamination Cooking Tips!

Some times, sharing is caring. When it comes to germs, however, sharing isn’t caring and there are many things you can do in order to keep your food safe. A select few things you can do, are as follows:

• Wash hands, benches, chopping boards, knives, utensils etc often, in order to prevent contamination.
• Avoid cross-contamination. Use a chopping board for chopping vegetables and a separate chopping board for chopping meat, if you need to prepare a combined vegetable and meat based dish. Alternatively, you can use one chopping board, however, chop your veggies first, then clean the chopping board very well. After the board is clean again, use this board to chop your meat, then clean your board again.
• Clean your chopping knife before and after chopping your vegetables and clean your chopping knife before and after chopping your meat.

Have fun and be safe in the kitchen!

Karina x

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

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Showing ‘dis-tain!

Karina’s Safety Cooking Tip!

– Ensure your cooking utensils, equipment and kitchen surfaces are decontaminated prior to preparing your food.

– Ensure you use food safe substances to clean your serving plates and other serving gear.

– Ensure you don’t cross-contaminate food (please refer to my older post on cross-contamination).

– Ensure you clean up all spills ASAP, otherwise, you may cause ‘dis-tain’ by staining your kitchen and another areas of your home.

– Use a separate kitchen towel to dry your dishes and/or dry your hands.

The list will go on and on, however, I have focused on a select few for now.

So, if next time there’s a dirty cooking bench, you won’t need to show anyone any ‘dis-stain’!

Stay safe in the kitchen.

Enjoy.

Karina

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

Bacteria Going ‘Viral’!

Karina’s Safety Cooking Tip!

Cross-contamination are two ugly words. Once cross-contamination has gone completely ‘viral,’ however, ugly does not begin to describe what can go wrong. In order to be safer in the kitchen, one should prevent all means of bacteria crossing from one surface to another, otherwise known as cross-contamination. Cross-contamination can arise from a multitude of areas, including, but not limited to:  poor hand hygiene practices, a lack of sterilisation on items including kitchen utensils, along with poor food-handling techniques.

With regards to hand hygiene, always ensure your hands are thoroughly cleaned prior to making contact with kitchen utensils, equipment and food. Always wear a clean apron prior to preparing food and ensure your hair is tied back. There are many other safety controls with regards to this subject.

With regards to food handling techniques, always ensure that you do not use the same knife you used to cut meat, to cut your veggies. Always cut your veggies on a clean board, then use a clean knife to prep. Always cut your meat on a separate clean board, then use a clean knife to prep. It is very important that your meat does not get mixed with the veggies during the prep stage, since, raw bacteria from the meat, can easily be transferred onto the raw veggies.

Never use the same knife you used to prep your veggies, than you use to prep your meat, unless the knife has been thoroughly cleaned between applications.

Stay safe in the kitchen!

Kind regards,

Karina x

Copyright © 2015 by Karina Teuma

Clean Food!

Karina’s Safety Cooking Tip!

The above is a photo of olives which I have cured, marinated and preserved, for later enjoyment (once the flavours develop). One crucial step, which I will never miss, would be to sterilise the preserving jars beforehand.

Sterilising jars prior to filling with food, is crucial and beneficial. The benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:

– Your food will keep for much longer.

– Your food will have been handled correctly.

– Your food may be safe for consumption i.e. food will not be contaminated with bacteria.

There are many different methods to use in order to sterilise your glass jars, prior to using. I like to grab a large pot, fill it up 3/4 with cool water, then place the jar back into the large pot. Once the jar has started to boil for 12 minutes, then you are ready to place your jar into a hot oven, for approximately 3 minutes, or however long it takes to evaporate any residual water off the jar.

Stay safe in the kitchen!

Enjoy!

Karina x