9) Not tidying and cleaning your work surfaces
Maybe you leave veg peels on one side of the work surface, fish bones on a chopping board, etc. You may think it’s a thing of nothing, but leaving food waste or soiled packaging lying around increases the risk of contaminating clean foods that you add to your dishes later on. Clearing and cleaning your chopping boards and work surfaces is an important step for ensuring proper hygiene while cooking.
10) Dipping your finger in the food
In the privacy of your own kitchen, far from the watchful eyes of your family or your guests, you may be tempted to dip your finger into a cake mix, or taste a sauce, dipping the same spoon back into it several times. We may tell ourselves that we are among friends and family and that it’s just your own saliva, but this does cause a risk of contamination. In order to combine your sweet tooth (who among us has never licked the spoon of some delicious raw cookie dough?!), expertise (for judging the seasoning) and hygiene, use a fresh spoon every time.
11) Cooking when you are sick
You will be glad to hear that people who work in kitchens (restaurants, canteens, etc.) avoid putting their hands in your food when they have a tummy bug, and we can well understand why! But when it comes to coughing or blowing your nose in the kitchen (covering a radius of several meters around you in microbes), it’s not a great idea either. You should wear gloves or a face mask, but the ideal is to leave someone else do the cooking while you get some rest. After all, you’re sick!
12) You allow pets in the kitchen
Attracted by the odours, your pets will follow you like a shadow, hoping you’ll drop something on the floor, or giving you puppy dog eyes from the corner of the room, hoping you’ll take pity on them and give them a few tasty morsels. Keep them outside the kitchen to avoid finding germs or animal hairs (which are also full of germs) in your food. It is obviously not recommended that you stroke or touch your pets while you are cooking, or letting them lick your hands, especially if you don’t wash your hands afterwards. Remember that a quick rinse of water does no good except to wrongly ease your conscience!