News — kitchen hygiene

If you are wondering why chopping boards cause food poisoning, the short answer is this: a single contaminated board can carry millions of bacteria per square centimetre, and if you do not separate raw meat from ready to eat foods or clean the board properly, those bacteria move straight onto your dinner. The safest option is to use at least two boards, clean them within 2 minutes of use, and choose materials that resist deep cuts and are easy to wash, such as pre oiled bamboo or acacia wood. Why do chopping boards cause food poisoning in the first place?...

If you care about kitchen hygiene, a high quality wooden chopping board is usually safer than a plastic board over its lifetime, because bacteria die off up to 3 times faster in wood fibres than in deep plastic knife grooves when both are cleaned properly. For most home cooks who wash boards within 10 minutes of use and let them dry fully, a well sealed wooden board offers better long term hygiene than a scratched plastic board that is kept for years. Wooden chopping board vs plastic for hygiene: the short answer When people ask “what’s the best chopping board...

If you wash and disinfect a chopping board correctly for at least 20 seconds with hot water and washing up liquid, then allow it to dry fully, it can be safe to reuse for vegetables after meat. In a busy kitchen though, the safest option is to keep two separate boards: one for raw meat and one for ready to eat foods like salad and fruit. Why reusing a chopping board after meat is risky Raw meat, especially chicken and mince, can carry bacteria such as Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. When you cut meat on a chopping board, juices...

If you follow standard UK kitchen colour coding, raw meat should go on a red chopping board and raw poultry often goes on yellow. In many home kitchens people simply use one dedicated meat board, but if you want to match professional practice, choose red for raw meat, keep yellow for poultry, and use a separate board for ready to eat foods to avoid cross contamination. Red vs yellow chopping board: which for meat and why it matters Colour coding is about food safety, not fashion. In UK catering guidance, the usual system is: Red board: raw meat such as...