One Board, One Sink, One Pair of Gloves
At a busy jerk centre, one small prep sink serves the whole kitchen. Raw chicken is portioned on a green cutting board at 10:00. At 10:20 a handler wipes the board with a damp cloth and uses it to shred lettuce for coleslaw. The cloth sits in a bucket of water at 30 °C and is reused to wipe knives and the counter. The same handler wears one pair of disposable gloves from raw chicken prep through to plating cooked food. In the reach-in cooler, a tray of raw chicken sits on the top shelf above an open container of cooked rice. The inspector also finds a spray bottle labelled 'bleach' with no concentration marked, and the sanitiser bucket is topped up with water but no chemical.
1. List the cross-contamination routes in this kitchen and the correction for each.
Read the worked answer
There are at least six routes. The cutting board: raw chicken juices remain on the board, then contact lettuce that will not be cooked. Correction: use separate colour-coded boards for raw meat and ready-to-eat food, or wash, rinse and sanitise the board between uses. The cloth: a damp cloth at 30 °C spreads bacteria from the board to knives and the counter. Correction: use single-use paper towels or laundered cloths changed frequently, and never store a soiled cloth in stagnant water. The gloves: one pair carries chicken juice to cooked food. Correction: change gloves and wash hands between raw and ready-to-eat tasks. The sink: a single sink used for both raw preparation and produce creates splash and surface contamination. Correction: separate or sequence tasks with full cleaning and sanitising between them. The cooler: raw chicken above cooked rice can drip. Correction: store raw meat below ready-to-eat food, covered. The sanitiser: an unlabelled, ineffective solution gives false assurance. Correction: mix and test sanitiser to the correct concentration.
2. Describe the correct cleaning and sanitising procedure for the cutting board and the wiping cloth, including concentration and contact time for chlorine.
Read the worked answer
For the board: scrape off food debris, wash with hot water and detergent, rinse with clean water, then apply a chlorine sanitiser at about 50–100 ppm (for food-contact surfaces) and allow at least 30 seconds to 1 minute contact time, then air-dry. Do not towel-dry, because that recontaminates the surface. The board should be smooth, non-absorbent and free of deep cuts; a heavily scored board should be replaced. For the cloth: use a clean cloth for each task where possible. If a sanitising bucket is used, it should contain a measured chlorine solution at the correct concentration, be changed regularly, and not be topped up with water alone. Soiled cloths should be laundered and dried. The bucket itself should be cleaned. The sanitiser should be made fresh, tested with test strips, and labelled with its concentration. A cloth left in warm, dirty water is a bacterial incubator, not a cleaning tool.
3. What is wrong with the glove use and the cooler storage, and what should change?
Read the worked answer
The glove use gives a false sense of safety. One pair of disposable gloves worn from raw chicken to plating cooked food is a cross-contamination vehicle: the gloves pick up chicken juice, and the handler then touches cooked food, utensils and surfaces. Gloves should be changed whenever they become soiled, after handling raw meat, after touching the face or bins, and between raw and ready-to-eat tasks. Hands must be washed before donning new gloves and after removing them. Gloves do not replace handwashing. In the cooler, raw chicken on the top shelf above open cooked rice is a drip hazard. Raw meat and poultry should be stored on the bottom shelf, in covered containers, below ready-to-eat foods. The rice should be covered. The cooler should be cleaned and sanitised, and the inspector should check for drips and standing liquid. Colour-coded storage and a shelf plan would help.