Safe food handling practices

Hi. I’m going to touch on a few points with regards to safe food handling and hygiene practises. These are points that you probably would be assessed on. So take notes on some of these and also remember, with your industry hours, points that you would need to probably adhere to and follow up. First and foremost, washing of hands. Everybody asks, how frequently do you wash your hands? As often as possible. With handling raw and with cooked items, definitely wash your hands and sanitise them correctly. Most of the institutions and establishments that we be working in will have facilities up on the wall explaining to you how to do that. So follow those procedures, [INAUDIBLE].. Secondly, sanitise work surfaces.

More importantly, keep them clean as you work. Sanitise them after each job you’ve done and we’ll go forward with that. Cuts and abrasions. We will cut ourselves whilst doing any jobs in the kitchen. We need to then make sure that we cover them. Clean them up, cover them, and make sure we use a plaster, or a Band-Aid. They will come in different colours. Reason why we have a different colour is so that we can easily find it if it comes off in the salad, in the stew, or whatever you’re making. So keep that in mind.

Disposable gloves, you will only those really when you’re dealing with raw materials and also, if you have cut yourself pretty bad that you have to put this on to stop the excessive bleeding, if need be. But otherwise, you should be not in the kitchen. Bad habits. Plenty bad habits in the kitchen. First and foremost, scratching the face and any other orifice of the body. That’s a no no. Go wash your hands. This is a major hygiene practise which you will be assessed on in the workplace. And also, if you smoke, too bad. You need to wash your hands every single time and no smoke breaks in the kitchen. Licking your fingers.

It’s always nice to put your finger in a pot and lick it. Definite no no. Another way is pour the food onto your palm. Lick your palm. A definite no no in any kitchen. Use a teaspoon or a tablespoon for that matter. Moving on to all the other parts of your body with regards to cleanliness and hygiene. Ensure portrait of yourself in the kitchen is always neat, tidy, and hygienic Thank you.

The lesson, stock rotation, FIFO, food storage items that we will be talking about, and going through the industry norm, and what to look out for and keep in mind of what you’ll be assessed on, coming up. Ensure dates are checked, especially expiry dates. So before you even handle any products, ensure that the dates are still intact. The other is make sure that, when using the item, that you date mark of, that particular day, when it’s arrived and the date you use it, in order to see how fresh and how long you’ve used it or how long it’s been in the fridge for. I have some examples to show you of how easy it is.

This practise can be done anywhere, not only in the industry, but also at home. For instance, I have products that have been taken out the freezer, been thawed. I have a date on it in order to keep track of how long it’s been lying in the fridge for. Generally 72 hours is the max that one would keep it in the fridge. And also, placing of items, raw and cooked items, in the fridge. Cooked items above raw Items. That’s most important. That you definitely get drummed into, in the industry. It is very simple to date mark.

It’s the date that you’re using their product and also, you keep a count on how many days it’s been lying in the chiller in order to use it. That is one of the major aspects with working in industry. FIFO, as you will get to know, is first in, first out. So that’s stock rotation. We also need to keep in mind, this is my saying, when in doubt, throw out.