Cooking Safety

Cooking Safety

08 May 2019

Whether you have a wood or plastic cutting board, sanitizing this widely used utensil is a must to prevent illness.

Having two cutting boards, one for fruits, vegetables, and one for raw meat is ideal.

According to Wikipedia, food can be contaminated at any step of production or cooking, especially those that occur at home before consumption.

According to a study published in the Journal of Food Safety on consumer attitudes and awareness of disease, most outbreaks of food borne illnesses result from “contaminated raw foods, cross-contamination, insufficient cooking, inadequate cooling or a lapse of more than 12 hours between preparing and eating.”

The study focused on habits of consumers in the kitchen with preparing raw meat. According to the results, 14% did not wash utensils or dishes between using them for raw and cooked foods, and 75% were unaware of the risks of storing raw meat on upper levels of refrigerators and the risk of cross-contamination below.

The instances of salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis have increased in the past decade, according to the study, most frequently because of the “improper handling of foods by consumers and food service workers.”

Data gathered in a multi-state survey in 1999 found that out of 19,356 adults interviewed: 19% did not wash hands or cutting boards after handling raw meat, 20% ate pink hamburgers often, 50% ate undercooked eggs on a regular basis, 8% had raw oysters habitually, and 1% drank unpasteurized milk. These behaviors increase the risk of acquiring Salmonellas, Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio gastroenteritis, and Escherichia coli.

With all this research, it is no wonder why sanitizing our cutting boards is such a hot topic. Washing your cutting board with Super Suds Dish Detergent and hot water, putting plastic cutting boards in the dishwasher, using an all-purpose food grade sanitizer, and drying clean cutting boards thoroughly will go a long way in preventing illness associated with bacteria on the cutting board.

If your cutting board has deep knife grooves, is old, stained, or splintering it is time to replace it. Don’t take the chance of getting sick by using old equipment.

ABC Sales & Services is here for you.

Give us a call at 340-774-1073 or visit our catalog page for all the products you need.

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Make 2019 The Year Of Cooking Safety!

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