The Importance of Hygiene in Cooking and How to Maintain It

Your kitchen is the heart of your household. It is a place where you prepare healthy and delicious meals for your family by maintaining proper kitchen hygiene. An unhygienic cooking space may attract insects and rodents that make your cooking area a hub of diseases. Keeping your kitchen unclean can lead to unhealthy cooking and can make your family prone to several diseases like food poisoning, stomach infection, and more.

Why is Hygiene in Cooking Important?

When you talk about the importance of kitchen hygiene, it is not just the worktops that you need to keep clean. There are a number of ways to maintain hygiene in the cooking area of your home. And it has become more important than ever today owing to two major reasons – one, with the pandemic scare, maintaining hygiene at every step of living has become paramount. Besides maintaining kitchen hygiene, properly cleaning the food that you consume and sanitizing the area where your food is prepared has become extremely crucial today.

Two, because of the pandemic, there has been a lockdown situation where almost every member of the family is always at home. While the lockdown helped the cause of staying indoors and not spreading the disease further, it also helped family members bond over indoor activities that they never tried before – one of the most common ones being cooking. With every person in the family trying their hands at cooking, the kitchen area is usually left messy. The need for regular cleaning becomes very important in such a scenario.

Easy Ways to Maintain Hygiene in the Kitchen

Maintaining kitchen hygiene is important to avoid foodborne diseases. Keeping our hands clean is not enough. There are a number of other factors to keep in mind to make sure that you serve fresh and healthy food to your loved ones. Even the rags or spoon holders that you use in the kitchen are a storehouse of germs. Considering these factors, we have listed out some easy ways to help you maintain hygiene in your kitchen.

Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly

As mentioned earlier, the best way to ensure that your fruits, vegetables, and even non-vegetarian items are clean, use a vegetable and fruit disinfectant. There are many harmful micro-organisms present on these raw food items that are invisible to the naked eye and can cause multiple health issues. Hence, even before bringing these items to the cutting table, clean them properly with a vegetable and fruit disinfectant. An Ozone technology vegetable and fruit disinfectant work best as it effectively kills bacteria, viruses, fungus, and other pathogens present on the surface of vegetables, fruits, and meat. KENT Vegetable & Fruit Disinfectant comes in two designs to match the needs of all kinds of households – KENT Wall Mounted Vegetable & Fruit Disinfectant and KENT Counter Top Vegetable & Fruit Disinfectant.

Clean the Kitchen Rags Regularly

Kitchen rags are a must-have to make your work easy. However, wet or greasy kitchen rags are a storehouse of germs and bacteria. When you clean the kitchen tops with the dirty rags, you unknowingly spread bacteria and other germs on the kitchen surface. These germs are easily transferred to the food items when you keep them on the kitchen tops when preparing food. As a result, if you don’t clean them properly, you are potentially exposing yourself to harmful germs. Make sure that you periodically sanitize the cloth that you use to wipe the kitchen counter and utensils. Wash all the kitchen clothes regularly, including scrubbers, mitten, aprons, and counter wipes.

Segregate the Chopping Boards

Another kitchen tool that could be a possible storehouse of germs is the chopping board. We use the chopping board to slice and cut vegetables, fruits, and meat. Instead of using a single chopping board for veggies and meat, use separate cutting boards. The reason is fruits and certain vegetables, especially those used in salads, are consumed raw. Cutting these on a board that was previously used for cutting meat, poultry, or seafood can expose you to harmful bacteria found in uncooked food. Although treatable, exposure to these bacteria can lead to severe illnesses. The best way to ensure all your fruits and vegetables are completely clean before bringing them on the counter is by cleaning them with a vegetable and fruit disinfectant machine.

Also Read: Reasons to Switch to Gluten-Free Diet

Periodically Clean the Kitchen Cabinets and Refrigerator

Clean the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator once a week to make sure that you throw away rotten food items. To ensure proper air circulation in the fridge, make sure there is always ample space available. It should not be stuffed with useless food items. Throw away rotten food items immediately, as rotten products can leave an unpleasant stench on the kitchen cabinets and inside the refrigerator.

Follow these simple tips to keep your kitchen and home clean and hygienic. Always remember to wash your hands before getting started with the cooking process and wear gloves while washing the dishes to prevent your skin from coming in contact with bacteria present on the dishes. Cheers to a healthy life!