Keep raw and cooked food apart
Raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs can carry bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. Cooking kills them. But a board, knife or hand that touched raw food can pass them to food that won't be cooked, like salad.
Hands, boards, plates and shelves
Wash hands with soap for 20 seconds after handling raw meat. Use one board for raw meat and fish and another for everything else. Never put cooked food on a plate that held it raw. Keep raw meat on the bottom fridge shelf so drips can't land on food below.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
You sliced raw chicken and now want to chop tomatoes. What comes first?
Wash board and knife in hot, soapy water. Soap and hot water remove raw juices before they reach the tomatoes.
True or false: Rinsing raw chicken in the sink washes off the bacteria.
False. Rinsing splashes raw juices onto sinks and counters. Only cooking kills the bacteria.
What went wrong? You grill burgers, then pile the cooked patties back on the plate that held the raw ones.
Raw juices on the plate reached cooked food. Cooked food gets no more heat, so juices from the plate stay a risk.
Fill the blank: Raw meat goes on the ___ shelf of the fridge so it cannot drip on other food.
Raw meat goes on the bottom shelf of the fridge so it cannot drip on other food. Nothing sits below it to catch drips.
How do you safely use marinade that held raw chicken as a sauce?
Boil it first, or save some beforehand. Boiling kills bacteria, and a clean portion never touched the raw meat.