Hygiene and Sanitation in the Kitchen
Personal hygiene
Candidates must know the sequence and timing of handwashing: wet hands, apply soap, lather including backs, between fingers, thumbs and nails for at least 20 seconds, rinse, dry with a disposable towel, then use a towel to turn off the tap. Wash after toilet use, handling raw food, touching the face or hair, handling waste, and returning to the kitchen. Report vomiting, diarrhoea, jaundice, infected cuts and respiratory illness to the supervisor. Cuts must be covered with a blue waterproof dressing plus a finger stall, because blue is rarely a food colour.
Cleaning and sanitising
Cleaning removes grease, soil and food debris; sanitising reduces microbes. The two-stage method is clean then sanitise, and the three-sink method is wash, rinse, sanitise. Chemical sanitisers need the correct contact time and dilution - too strong is a chemical hazard, too weak fails to sanitise. Test strips verify concentration. Heat sanitising uses water at about 82 °C for a contact time set by code.
Cross-contamination control
Use colour-coded boards (commonly red for raw meat, blue for raw fish, green for salad and fruit, yellow for cooked meat, brown for vegetables, white for dairy and bakery). Store raw food below cooked and ready-to-eat food, in covered containers. Separate cloths for food areas and floors; change cloths frequently and launder above 71 °C.
Waste and pests
Bins need lids, liners, frequent emptying and a wash afterwards. Pest signs include droppings, smear marks, gnawed packets, live insects and grease-free trails along walls. Proofing means sealing gaps, fitting screens and keeping doors closed.
Worked example
A trainee wipes a board used for raw chicken with a damp cloth and starts slicing salad. This is a cross-contamination failure: the board needs washing in hot soapy water, rinsing, then sanitising with the correct contact time before salad use - or simply switching to the green board.
Traps
Questions blur cleaning with disinfecting, or state that gloves remove the need for handwashing - they do not.