Cleanliness - Cherylene

Cleanliness is one of the most important factor when it comes to the health of your family or customers. It prevents the spread of germs and diseases in your kitchen. Once I walked pass the back alley of a hawker centre and saw the cleaning lady wash the plates and utensils by scrubbing them without any soap and dipping them into a pail of water before drying them. I've also seen some hawker centre's utensils with stains on them. Cleanliness of your kitchen, equipment and utensils also deem whether customers will patronize your shop as customers will be disgusted when they see a dirty kitchen.

Some examples of bad kitchen cleanliness:

1) Using the same cloth for wiping the plates and cleaning the tables.
Thousands of bacteria can be found on table tops and when we use the same cloth to wipe the plate, the germs will be transferred over to the plate and causes the plate to be contaminated.

2) Using the wrong chopping board for the wrong purposes.
Different coloured chopping boards are used for specific foods. For example: Red for raw meat, Yellow for raw poultry, Green for vegetables and fruits, Brown for seafood and Blue/White for ready-to-eat foods.
By using the right chopping board for each category, you can prevent cross contamination from happening.

3) Not clearing the garbage at the end of every single day.
Garbage cans are moist, dark and at room temperature, which is the optimum temperature for bacteria growth to happen. Every time wastes get thrown into the garbage can, the bacteria count increases. Leaving the garbage can overnight without clearing it, can you imagine how much bacteria would have grown and infested your kitchen?

Fret not, here are some ways to ensure proper cleanliness in your kitchen:

- Keep utensils, appliances and food items in most suitable places.

- End each day with proper cleaning of your kitchen. (Mopping of floors, cleaning of cabinets)

- Do NOT use the same plates and utensils to hold raw and cooked products.

And most importantly, 

- Wash all your equipments and utensils thoroughly with soap and water after use.

Cleanliness - Don

Just today when I went for dinner at Changi Village hawker center, I noticed that there was a stall where by the front part of the stall where all the cooked food are placed on food trays and given to the customers was very dirty. There were stains of soy sauce, little bits of trimming of raw cabbage and even chilli on the counter top. This shows that the stall isn't very particular on their cleanliness which is not only unsightly but also it poses a lot of health issues,

Firstly, the trimming of raw cabbage. The raw cabbage might not have been washed and in the industry most vegetables are sprayed with insecticides or pesticides to increase and prevent crops from getting damaged by pest. If the raw cabbage trimming found on the counter top had not been washed, it might still be laced with nitrate/nitrite which are found in fertilizers used on vegetables, if a consumer were to ingest that, the consumer might get food intoxication due to the chemical hazard.

Second, the soy sauce stains. Even though there isn't a lot of soy sauce that are on the counter top, but because soy sauce contains a lot of proteins and moisture, it is a breeding ground for many bacteria for example Listeria, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli etc. Many people have the misconception that if a spot has bacteria, and we do not place our food at that exact spot, it is impossible for the bacteria to contaminate our food. But that is actually not true, because bacteria cannot be seen with the naked eye, even if we think that the area near the contaminated spot is clean, we might be wrong and that the bacteria might have just contaminated that whole area. In this case, the soy sauce stain on the counter top might have bred enough bacteria to have contaminated the whole area that the food trays are place.

All this are health issues and they can easily cause food borne illnesses which are dangerous because in severe cases, it can cause death if one's immune system is weak. However for this specific situation, the stall owners can prevent any cases from happening by just simply doing 1 simple action. That is to keep their counter top clean, they do not need to sanitize it to the extend of once every hour, but just by keeping the counter top clean, and wiping away any stains or discarding any sort of food crumbs/trimmings/spills they can prevent bacteria from growing out of proportion which will harm humans.

Personal Hygiene - Nixon

Dirty Fingernails

Dirty chef jacket

Dirty boots

Dirty grooming is one of a bad habits in personal hygiene. Dirty grooming not only tarnish your own reputation, it also tarnishes your company or restaurant reputation. Having a dirty grooming will result in food poisoning . Food poisoning is the illness caused by eating food contaminated with harmful bacteria. Dirty grooming includes Dirty boots, dirty apron, dirty fingernails

The symptoms of food poisoning are diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain.
If 2 or more consumer complaind about your stall or company, investigation will be carried out. If found out that the caused of food poisoning is from your stall, points will be demerit or in serious cases, the suspension of stall license.  This is what happened to the indian rojak stall previously.


To prevent this from happening, nails must be cut every 3 days, to be sure that cleanliness is at its best, hands must be washed every time before food handling.
Boots to be cleaned with a wet cloth everyday, a wet cloth with a little soap if possible.
 Chef uniform which includes Chef jacket,Chef hat, Chef apron, Chef pants, to be changed everyday. a good habit to do so.
                                   
                                                Better Be Safe then Sorry. (BBSS)

Cleanliness -Julene

Title : using of wrong chopping board

 

     

                                            Photo : misusing of chopping board for meat .

 

Chopping boards are used based on the food that we are cutting . For example ,

Green – for vegetables

Red - meat

Blue  - ready-to-eat food

Brown – seafood

In this picture , someone is using a green chopping board to chop the Chinese sausages . It is not right to use green chopping board because its purpose is only for cutting vegetables .  Chinese sausages are dried / smoked pork meat and pork fat or other varities that are made of the duck liver  . It can be eaten raw . However , most of the time it is either cooked with fried rice or used in steaming dim sum . Since Chinese sausages are made of meat , we should use the red chopping board instead of the green .

Using of the right chopping board is a very important practice . This is because , meats are potentially hazardous food . Thus , it supports growth of micro organism . when we cut meat on green chopping boards , cross contamination occurs as micro organism are transferred from the meat to the chopping board . If we were to use the same chopping board for cutting vegetables , we will unintentionally transfer micro organism onto the vegetables as well . These food will then cause food borne illnesses if vegetables are used as garnishes or decoration for a dish.

 

Food borne illness causes consequences such as death , discarding of food supplies which might have or might not have been contaminated , paying medical/hospital expenses on victims and closure of food establisments .

Therefore , it is very important in preventing food borne illnesses ! We can use measures such as , training employees to handle food safely , identify foods that are high potential of becoming hazard food , thus , employees will handle It with more care . For example , in this case , we can teach the employees which board is more appropriate for usage during food preparation .

Hygiene- Calisa

Title : Good personal hygiene practice




1) Remove jewellery and wet hands and wrists with warm water.

 

    

2) Use 1 or 2 squirts of liquid or foam soap

 



3) Lather soap and scrub hands well, palm to palm



4) Scrub in between and around fingers

5) Scrub back of each hand with palm of other hand



6) Scrub fingertips of each hand in opposite palm

7) Scrub each thumb clasped in opposite hand.

8) Scrub each wrist clasped in opposite hand

9) Rinse thoroughly under running water

10) Pat hands dry with paper towel.

 

 

 

Photos : These are the 10 steps on a good personal hygiene practice which is suppose to do it very often in the kitchen.

 

Washing of hands and finger thoroughly - Washing and scrubing of finger nails, wrist, thumb may not fully kill the bacteria but is already good enough to handle the food safely
.

 Why is personal hygiene so important ? This is because staff with unhygienic practices will increase the rish of food poisoning and ruin the company's good reputation.

 

Food premises, fixtures, fittings, equipment, tools and utensils should be maintained to an acceptable standard of cleanliness, and in a good state of repair and working order to their use.

For example :
1) Ensure adequate and appropriate maintenance, cleaning and sanitizing of their facilities and equipment.
2) Control pests.
3) Remove waste.
4) Monitor and record the effectiveness of maintenance and sanitizing procedures.

For a well-planned cleaning and sanitizing of kitchen should include:

1) Areas

and items of equipment and utensils to be cleaned / sanitized.
2)Frequency of cleaning / sanitizing required for each item.
3) Specific standard washing / cleaning / sanitizing procedures.
4) Equipment and methods to be used.
5) Chemicals or processes to be used.
6) The staff responsibility for each tasks.

Our hands contains millions different kind and types of bacteria, when our hands food especially when they are dirty, be it whether the food is cooked or not. Chances of getting food poisoning is quite high.

Food poisoning is the illness caused by eating food contaminated with harmful bacteria. The most common symptoms are diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain.

Food poisoning is an infectious disease which can easily be passed to other people by poor hygiene, it is confirmed through the laboratory analysis of a stool sample.
 

There is a news on personal hygiene say that "Food handlers and cooks must have good personal hygiene. Their hands should be clean and regularly washed as well as their clothes.

"One of the best and safest things that food handlers can do is to wash their hands regularly before, during and after cooking," he explained.

Also personally, I have seen one of my secondary school canteen vendor, not washing of her hands after visiting the toilet . The rumours spread, and no one dare to buy their food from that stall. Poor hygiene can affect your business , therefore it is the most key and basic practice that everyone in food and beverages industry should have. Staff with unhygienic practices will increase the risk of food poisoning.

To prevent food poisoning, hands must be wash regularly and thoroughly- on entering before handling food, after visiting the washroom, in between handling of raw and cooked foods and after handling waste.

Cleanliness - Nixon noxiN

 

An Unsightly Basin

Basin. The picture above shows a basin full of bits and pieces of food particles, trimmings. This is unsightly and highly undesirable. Firstly, the basin will be clogged.  .  When water is not cleared, the temperature of the water will be in room temperature and there is lots of moisture and  if left overnight will be a perfect environment for bacteria to grow. 

 The microorganisms that will grow are Psychrotrophs and Mesophile. 

Psychrotrophs are microorganisms that will grow at 0 – 45 ^oC exp. Listeria Monocytogenes. Mesophiles are microorganisms that will grow at 45 – 70 ^oC. Exp, E.Coli. 

These biological hazards will cause food borne illnesses like Infection, Intoxication and Toxin Mediated. Most likely Infection and Toxin-Mediated

Infection – by eating food that contains living diseases causing microorganisms.
Toxin Mediated – By eating food that contains harmful microorganisms.

Infection and toxin mediated can be deadly if not treated properly, some might even experience death

                          

F A T : Food, Acidity, Temperature                           T O M : Time, Oxygen, Moisture

 In FAT TOM, temperature , time and moisture affects the above scenario. 

One of the four basic control measures is inhibiting growths of Pathogens. By removing moisture, we can inhibit the growth of harmful pathogen. To prevent these to happen, We can remove moisture by unclogging the basin, clear basin after every use. Wipe dry with a dry cloth.

Hygiene - Don

Title: Poor hygiene of food

Photo: Soap bubbles are found near food that are to be used.

This photo was taken during Mise En Place near the sink. As seen in the photo, The chicken thigh that is going to be used is placed in a tray and right beside it, there are soap bubbles that has landed very near the meat. This can and will cause food contamination and result in foodborne illnesses. If the person didn't notice and did not wash the chicken before cooking and used the chicken, it will cause the consumers to get foodborne illnesses. In the case of more than 2 people who fall sick from consuming food from this kitchen, it will cause the whole kitchen to shutdown and stop production until the kitchen is proven clean. This will mean that the kitchen will lose time and money and more importantly the health of the consumers are in risk.

Also, this type of hazard/contamination is known as ' Chemical hazard/Contamination ' whereby any substance that will and can cause harm primarily to people. Chemical contamination is very dangerous because it's illness & symptoms are not easily detected, can cause acute poisoning, damage the consumer's health or even causes death in severe cases. It can also be classified as biological hazard and when one consumes a food that has been tainted by cleaning agent, it can cause Intoxication

To prevent that situation from happening, there are a few things that we can do. Firstly, we should not do any food preparation near the sink. Secondly, before we cook any food, it is a good idea to rinse the ingredients first or place it near the stove where the heat from the fire will create a zone free of bacteria. Thirdly, we could cling wrap all food and only unwrap it when we are gonna use it, instead of leaving it lying around in the kitchen.