Cross-contamination

Cross-contamination means harmful bacteria move from one place to another. The main danger is raw food passing bacteria to ready-to-eat food.

It can happen directly, when raw chicken touches cooked ham. It can happen through drips, when juice from raw meat falls onto a salad. It can also happen indirectly, through hands, cloths, boards, knives, tongs and equipment. Cutting raw chicken and then lettuce on the same board is a classic example.

Keep raw and ready-to-eat food apart during delivery, storage, preparation and service. Use separate fridges if you can. If you share a fridge, store raw food below ready-to-eat food, and keep food covered.

Use separate chopping boards, knives and utensils for raw and ready-to-eat food. Many businesses use colour-coded boards and knives. The colours are not set by law, so learn your workplace's chart. Colour coding only works if everyone follows it.

Do not wash raw chicken or other raw meat. Washing does not remove bacteria. The water splashes them onto worktops, sinks and other food. Only cooking kills them.

Wash your hands after handling raw food and between tasks. Use separate cloths and cleaning materials in raw and ready-to-eat areas. Clean and disinfect boards, surfaces and equipment after raw food has been on them. A rinse under the tap is not enough.

Prepare raw and ready-to-eat food in separate areas if you can. If you have only one bench, clean and disinfect it between raw and ready-to-eat tasks.

Cross-contamination can also happen during service. Use separate tongs for raw and cooked food on a grill. Do not put cooked food back on a plate or tray that held raw food. A burger cooked perfectly can be made unsafe by the tongs that put it on the grill raw. Think too about what you touch without noticing, such as fridge handles, taps, phones and order screens.

Soil can carry harmful bacteria too. Keep dirty vegetables away from ready-to-eat food. Wash or peel them, unless they are sold as ready to eat.