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THE SANITARY KITCHEN

Recipe Introduction


As we all hear of more and more food poisonings happening everywhere, it is probably a good time to look at our own practices for keeping our home workspaces sanitized. There are many cleaning habits that we often overlook or do not do. Some because we don't know about them, others because we loose track of them in trying to do all that we must in our busy lives. We hope the following will help . . .





List of Ingredients



• 1 pint Filtered water.
  
• 2 t. Chlorine bleach.
  






Instructions



1. These two simple ingredients, when mixed together in a plastic spray bottle, are the basis for a well sanitized kitchen. This is the how, when, and where of their use.
   
   
2. Never think of any surface in your kitchen as clean and non-porous. Every surface, no matter how seemingly hard, will have minute scratches and holes capable of harboring bacteria and must be cleaned before, during and after food preparation.
   
   
3. Before food preparation, wipe up any obvious contamination with mildly soapy water and a sponge. But FIRST, pop that sponge into your microwave, on high, for one to one and a half minutes to sanitize it. Remember! That sponge is the single largest source of bacteria in your whole house!
   
   
4. Rinse and microwave the sponge again while wiping off the countertops with wet paper towels, followed with dry paper towels. Set your spray bottle for a fine spray and lightly mist the countertops with the bleach solution.
   
   
5. Allow the solution to sit for 4 to 5 minute to do its work and then wipe one more tie with damp paper towels. Allow to dry before begining preparation. Be certain that your cleaning practice covers all of the inside corners and front edgs of each counter top.
   
   
6. The final steps in cleaning is to soap down, rinse, bleach spray, and rerinse your sink bowls. Then rinse, under hot water, and dry any already washed mixing bowls, cutting boards, food processor bowls and cutters, mandolins, graters, and any other large utencils you will be using for this cooking session.
   
   
7. Next, prepare your foods. Any canned goods should be wiped with a paper towel and hot water BEFORE opening them. By-the-by, the cutter-head and the toothed wheel of your can opener must be sanitized BEFORE any use following Steps 3, 4 and 5, above. This baby is about as great a contaminator as the sponge.
   
   
8. Vegetables must be prepared and set aside before any meats and dairy products. Rinse under cold, filtered water and pat dry with paper towels. Pre-rinse any cutting utencils in the same way before using them on the veggies. Keep them covered and cool until incorporated in your recipe.
   
   
9. The second food group to prepare will be dairy products. Here again, hot and then cold rinse and dry with new paper towels any bowls, cups, utencils, etc., that will be used with these foodstuffs and cover and keep them chilled until used in the recipe.
   
   
10. Finally, prepare the meats. Generally, meats are the most likely source of bacterial contamination in a kitchen and so must be handled with the greatest care. If you are using more than one meat, ALWAYS prepare them in the following order: First, any cooked meats (ham, sausages, patés, etc.). Second, beef/veal. Third, any other meats except poultry. Fourth, poultry. Poultry products are the most often sighted sources of kitchen contamination, so you want everything else out of your way before working with them.
    
    
11. By now, it appears that we own shares in the paper towel industry. Such is not the case. It is just that they are the safest way to cleanup and dispose of any cooking wastes. They are relatively germ-free, much more so than any cloth kitchen towel, and, if not reused, eliminate a big source of cross-contamination.
    
    
12. BEFORE beginning to prepare any meats, adjust a sink faucet to provide a slow flow of very warm water. Let this run until you have completed all of the meat portions of your recipe and any subsequent cleanup. This allows you to wash and rinse your hands BETWEEN EACH HANDLING OF ANY MEAT AND CLEAN COOKING UTENCILS USED WITH THE MEAT. A pump-bottle of dish soap place near the faucet will help speed this process up.
    
    
13. Set out a medium sized bowl next to your workspace. This will be a dumpster for all of the trimmings, excess bones, and wrappings from the meat you are working withand help keep your contertop cleaner.
    
    
14. If you have not already done so, scrub your cutting board with hot, soapy water and a scrub pad or brucsh. NOT with a sponge. Then rinse under very hot water and dry. If using more than one meat, this MUST be done every time you change meats.
    
    
15. Remove any store wrappings, trays, etc. from the meat and get them into a wastepaper can immediately. Don't set them on your countertop unless you must and, if so, immediatey wipe all areas that they touched with a paper towel slightly wetted with the bleach solution.
    
    
16. As you prepare a meat, it is most important that you wash your hands before touching any other foodstuffs, utencil handles or surfaces. Have the dishes that you will transfer the meat to already out and cleaned for use before starting meat preparation. Follow the processes in Step 6 between handlings of any meat. Finally, cover and keep the meat chilled until ready to use.
    
    
17. Now that the meat preparations are out of the way, stop and follow the cleaning processes of Steps 2 thru 6 BEFORE beginning the final assembly of your recipe.
    
    
18. After the cooking is done take another swipe at your workspaces, dishes, appliances, cooking devices, and utencils using the appropriate methods noted earlier in this information. AND, don't forget to sanitize the HANDLES of pots, pans, and all used utencils. It is amazing how many cooks will furiously work over the blade of a knife and then just rinse off its handle!
    
    
19. And don't forget to microwave that kitchen sponge. It is our habit to just automatically pop in the nuking machine every time that we are finished using it. Of course,this often leads to one of us looking all over for the sponge that the other one put in the microwave and forgot to take out.
    
    
20. Here is an added point of contamination that a friend reminded us of after reading this tip:
    
    
21. If you have a "tiled" kitchen counter top, be certain to take care of the grouting between the tiles. After scrubing with a commercially available ceramic tile cleaner look for any loose and/or missing grout. Completely vacuum to clean out the loose stuff. Then regrout AND reseal. This should be done at least semi-annually.
    
    
22. Sheesh! Since starting this subject we keep getting more good inputs for keeping things clean around the kitchen. Here they are:
    
    
23. BE AWARE OF PLASTIC SIEVES! Except for holding fresh fruit or vegetables, they are germ traps for all else. To keep these sieves strong, the maker forms stiffening ribs in the product design which will cause some of the sieve's holes to be completely or partially blocked. Small food particles can easily become caught and packed into these holes to create places for mold and germs to run rampant. Stay with the mesh and punched metal (collander) types.
    
    
24. Many plastic food storage container, such as Tupperware, have deep, thin slots running around the underside of their lids that are designed to seal over the sharp top-edge of the container. These must be scrubbed regularly with a soapy toothbrush to remove embeded food that breed bacteria and fungi.
    
    






Final Comments


We know that you might think that we have beat this kitchen sanitizing bit to death or are a pair of compulsive obsessives. But once you have been through the agonizing pain, continuous nausea, and seemingly never ending diarrhea of Salmonella or Shigella food poisoning as have both of us from eating at places that do not practice good sanitation, you will be most happy to use these techniques. Stay healthy!