When working with food it is not only essential for your business, but for the wellbeing of your cliental and customers, that it is done so, with care. Furthermore, whilst it may be well and good producing stunning dishes which not only look amazing, but taste beautiful... a reputation can be shattered in an instance should the basic food hygiene guidelines not be followed.
An individual's hygiene can have a knock on effect to the quality of food which is produced. Just because your kitchen staff will not be seen by the waiting customers, does not mean that they are an exception to the quality control standards you implement in your place of work.
Keeping clean as an individual is important, and washing your hands thoroughly before coming into contact with ingredients, is something that no one working with food, should ignore. Hands should also be washed when the possibility of contamination to the food increases...such as after sneezing. However there are more practical manners involving clothing, and accessories which can work to maintain hygiene standards. It is important to keep your overalls and aprons clean, whilst ensuring that you don't come into contact with the food whilst it is being prepared. Long hair should be tied up, and should an apron be too long, it can be rolled up, as a means to ensure that the risk of contaminating the food is minimal.
As important as it is to keep yourself clean, it is possibly of a greater importance to make sure that your kitchen equipment, utensils, and working area is maintained in a hygienic manner. One way to ensure that your instruments and surfaces are not damaging the ingredients is to wash, and wipe them all between working with cooked and raw foods... and vice versa.
In terms of the food itself, the laws of common sense often apply when ensuring that your food cannot cause damage to its recipients. First of all, it is vital to ensure that the ingredients you are using are still "in date", and thus have not been reduced in quality in any way, prior to you using them. Furthering on from this, before serving food to customers it is important to ensure that the food has been fully cooked, all the way through... making sure the middle is the same temperature as the surface. There are various methods of doing this, in order to ensure that all bacteria has been killed from the food.
Later in the week, we will be providing further tips on how to ensure that the wellbeing of your customers is not altered by your cooking methods, and that hygienic guidelines are upheld.