Top food safety tips for your workplace

Cross contamination
• You must prepare and store raw and ready to eat food separately.
• Wash hands thoroughly before preparing food, after going to the toilet or after handling pets.
• Ready to eat foods need to be stored above raw meat/fish.
• Keep pets and pests away from food and food preparation surfaces.
• Cover food to prevent contamination by flies and insects.
• Use foods within the "use by" date on the label.
• Do not prepare or serve food for others if you have (or recently had) diarrhoea and or vomiting.

Chilling
• After purchase, ensure chilled and frozen food are quickly transferred to refrigerators or cool rooms.
• Make sure you have enough refrigerator space to store foods before and after cooking.
• Refrigerator temperatures should be at or below 5°C.
• Throw away ‘chilled’ food that has been stored at room temperature or which has been outside for more than four hours. Remember, in summer warmer temperatures help food poisoning bacteria grow quickly.

Cooking
• Defrost frozen meat and chicken thoroughly before cooking.
• Ensure food is piping hot and always follow instructions on food packaging.
• If intending to barbecue, pre-cook the meat in your cooker on the same day. The meat will then cook quicker on the barbecue and you'll be able to serve more people at once.
• Make sure the middle of the food, especially meat, burgers and sausages, is thoroughly cooked. Avoid the "burnt on the outside, raw in the middle" method of barbecuing.
• Do not serve food containing uncooked eggs such as homemade mayonnaise.

Cleaning
• Clean work surfaces and utensils with hot water and detergent between handling raw meat/fish and ready to eat food.
• Wash kitchen cloths and sponges regularly and leave them to dry before using them again. Dirty, damp cloths are the perfect place for bacteria to breed.
A lot of people smell the food to see if it is ‘off’. You need to be aware that food poisoning bacteria look, smell and taste normal.

Health and safety tips
• Always ensure there is clear access for the emergency services i.e. police, fire and ambulance.
• Make sure any electrical equipment is properly earthed and connected to an RCD or circuit breaker.
• Ensure a basic first aid box is available to deal with minor cuts and grazes.
• Keep young children away from any barbecue or hot cooking equipment.

If you would like to talk to someone regarding the safety at your event or workplace, please contact ISOsafe today to learn more about our services on 1300 789 132