There’s nothing like eating fresh food prepared in a hygienic environment. Whether it’s a home or a hotel, a kitchen should always be clean and neat so that food poisoning doesn’t happen when people consume it.

How you prepare food and store it will impact the time the food stays edible. You should know at what temperature you should cook and the storing temperatures so that the raw materials and food stay fresh as long as possible.

No matter how proficient you are in cooking, if you are not maintaining general cleanliness in the kitchen area, then the prepared food might become inedible without your knowledge.

So, in this blog, you will know the factors to consider when preparing food and food safety tips so that food stays edible for a long time.

Factors to Consider When Preparing Food:

  • Hygiene of Workers and Cleanliness of the Cooking Environment
    Before you think about preparing food, you should understand that the cooking area should be as clean as possible. People involved in preparing food should maintain the highest standards of hygiene. From wearing a head cap to sanitising the hands before cooking food and covering their mouths while sneezing or coughing, workers should be trained in hygiene methods so that they don’t contaminate the fresh food.

    Besides workers, the cooking environment should be neat. From walls to floors and countertops and pantry, you should perform regular checks to remove unwanted items. Also, keep the area pest-free so that the food doesn’t get mixed with allergens.
  • Poor Temperature Control
    The cooking temperature should reach at least 70 degrees. Take extra care when using raw milk, fish, eggs, and other poultry items as they have a low shelf life. Know the exact cooking methods of raw items so that you prepare food intact with vital nutrients and vitamins. Over-cooking or undercooking the food will not let people consume the nutrients the food has.
  • Insufficient Cooking or Reheating
    Make sure you are thawing the frozen food properly before you cook. Items like frozen fish, meat and poultry should come at ideal room temperature before you use it to prepare food.

    Also, when you are reheating the food, it should kill the microbes that developed during the storage period. So make sure the temperature reaches 70 degrees.
  • Cross-contamination
    You should meticulously clean every cooking surface so that cross-contamination doesn’t happen. Keep the non-veg and veg prepping areas separate and thoroughly clean the non-veg counters so that small micro-organisms are not spreading the entire surface.

Food Safety Tips

  • Hire Professional Cleaners to Ensure a Safe Environment
    While you perform cleaning daily in your cooking area, hire professional cleaners to ensure a safe environment. They do pressure washing and have cleaning tools that you might not have. You can get a spotless cooking space that encourages you to cook consistently.
  • Never Leave Cooked Meals at Room Temperature for More than 2 Hours
    After cooking food, make sure you are storing them properly. Immediately consume them, and if you have any leftovers, don’t leave them at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Cover the leftovers properly and store them in the refrigerator. And reheat them before you eat. Discard inedible and smelly food immediately to avoid food poisoning.
  • Keep Food Heated Until Served (or Cold When not Being Consumed Immediately)
    Until you complete the meal, you should ensure every item is served hot. And when you have finished the meal, store every item properly. Until you eat again, make sure the food is cold so that you can reheat it.

    Also, it’s advisable to not reheat food multiple times as it can lose its nutritional properties. Keep reheating count maximum up to two times before you discard it.
  • Understand How Each Type of Meat Can be Safely Prepared
    You have to take extra care while preparing different kinds of meat. Every kind of meat has different methods to cook. Understand how you safely prepare the meat so that all its properties are intact even after cooking. After prepping meat, make sure the counter surfaces are properly cleaned and sanitised.

Final Thoughts

It’s always the right thing to be cautious while you are preparing and consuming food. Maintain the highest standards of cleanliness while preparing food and practice eating freshly prepared food to avoid the risk of food poisoning.