Food hygiene

It is estimated that as many 1 in 10 people in the UK and ROI will suffer from food poisoning over the course of the year. With their weaker resistance to infection, older people are particularly at risk and will take longer to get over a bout of food poisoning than younger, healthy adults

Remembering a few simple rules when you’re preparing food will help to reduce the risk.

• Always wash your hands before handling food and again between handling raw and cooked foods. Cover any cuts with a waterproof plaster.
• Keep raw and cooked foods separate. Never use the same equipment (knives, chopping board etc) for preparing raw and cooked foods, unless it has been thoroughly washed in-between.
• Store cooked and raw foods on separate shelves in the fridge - cooked food at the top, raw food at the bottom.
• Make sure that food, especially chicken, is properly cooked.
• Reheat leftovers thoroughly. Always reheat until ‘piping’ hot. Never reheat food more than once.
• Avoid raw or lightly cooked eggs or dishes made using them.
• Change or wash your dish cloths regularly - a dirty dishcloth can contain up to 100 billion bacteria after just one week’s use.
• Always check use by dates.

For more tips on keeping your food safe visit:

www.food.gov.uk

www.foodlink.org.uk