Food Safety Week is in full swing and the FSA wants us to think about our hygiene habits in the kitchen and the risks we take. Are you brave enough to take the Kitchen Check test?
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) uses the annual Food Safety Week to get people thinking about the way they handle food and the everyday risks they might be taking with their health. Most of us are pretty savvy about washing our hands before food preparation, but how many of us are guilty of those little habits that could add up to a nasty case of food poisoning?
I like to think that I’m the tidiest person in my household. I try to clean as I go while I’m making a meal and I’m quite fastidious about washing my hands throughout food preparation. I decided to take the FSA’s new Kitchen Check test to prove my hygiene greatness. You can probably guess what happened next.
Yes, I got my comeuppance. My Kitchen Check results declared that I am a ‘Sloppy Joe’, and not the ‘Hygiene Machine’ that I expected. So what am I doing wrong in the kitchen?
Be honest about your hygiene habits
The FSA’s test asks you to be completely honest about how you prepare and store food. So I was completely honest that I don’t clean my kitchen surfaces with hot soapy water or disinfectant before I start cooking. I also owned up to having food in my fridge that is well past its ‘use by’ date, not to mention foods that recommend being consumed within a few days or weeks of opening. I have this strange belief that products like mint sauce and chutney can’t really go bad. Maybe I’ve just been lucky so far.
Do you go the extra mile to keep your kitchen and fridge bug-free? The FSA has lots of great recommendations to reduce the risk of yucky viruses, but some of them were things that I just don’t think about.
For example, I’m not sure if I’ve ever washed my oven gloves since I bought them several years ago. They are silicone coated and they get wiped down when I accidentally dip them in my dinner, but that’s as far as my cleaning goes. Is that normal? I’m now terrified that everyone else out there washes their oven gloves each week and I’m taking outrageous risks.
So please put my out of my misery – am I the only sloppy Joe out there? If you’re feeling brave, try taking the Kitchen Check test as honestly as you can and let me know how you fare. Will you be our first Hygiene Machine?
Try taking the FSA Kitchen Check test. Are you a...?
Sloppy Joe (44%, 26 Votes)
Kitchen Cavalier (31%, 18 Votes)
Hygiene Machine (25%, 15 Votes)
Total Voters: 59
