Monday 27 May 2013

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.



2 comments:

  1. I agree that the above examples of bad kitchen cleanliness are happening daily in many restaurants . Another example is , using of a cloth to clean dirty chopping boards , to remove dirts from it instead of washing , is extremely unhygienic . Furthermore , using of the same cloth to whipe dry washed plates is worst . In this case , I do not see the point of washing the plates because , it still gets dirty after drying . Not forgetting , cross contamination happens when we carry out the above actions .

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  2. To summarize my post, cleanliness in kitchens plays a huge part on our health, and for companies, business. By not maintaining a high standard of cleanliness, bacteria and germs will grow and consumption of them may lead to foodbourne illness. Hence, we should all be wary of the cleanliness of our kitchen to prevent all these from happening.

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