News — food safety

In the UK, the recommended colour chopping board for raw meat is red. Food hygiene guidance used in many professional British kitchens follows a colour coded system where red boards are for raw meat only, yellow for cooked meats, green for salad and fruit, and blue for raw fish. At home, the safest option is to copy this system and keep one clearly identified “raw meat only” board, ideally sized at around 45x35cm so juices stay on the board and off your worktops. UK colour codes for chopping boards and why red means raw meat Most UK catering colleges, food...

If you want to know whether bamboo cutting boards are hygienic, several peer reviewed studies show that properly maintained bamboo can hold up to 3 to 4 times fewer live bacteria after washing than some plastic boards, and performs similarly to quality hardwood. The safest option for everyday home cooking is a sealed, Moso bamboo board, cleaned with hot soapy water after each use and replaced every 5 to 10 years depending on wear. What studies show on bamboo cutting boards and bacteria? Researchers looking at bamboo, wood and plastic boards tend to test three things: how many bacteria stay...

If you want to cut your risk of salmonella at home, a well maintained wood cutting board is usually safer than a scratched plastic board, especially over 2 to 5 years of regular use. Studies have shown that bacteria on wood boards can drop by over 90% within a few hours at room temperature, while worn plastic boards can keep salmonella alive inside deep knife grooves. Wood vs plastic cutting board for salmonella: the short answer For most home kitchens, a quality hardwood or bamboo board used with good hygiene is a better long term choice against salmonella than a...

If you cut raw chicken on a chopping board and leave it unwashed for just 2 hours at room temperature, the surface can reach over 1,000,000 bacteria per square centimetre. So what’s the best way to stop your chopping board harbouring bacteria? Choose a low porosity board like bamboo or acacia, clean it within 10 minutes of use, and keep separate boards for raw meat and ready to eat foods. Why do chopping boards harbour bacteria in the first place? Chopping boards harbour bacteria because they combine moisture, food residue and tiny cuts in the surface. Every slice from a...