Clean

• Always wash and dry your hands thoroughly before and after preparing food.
• Use separate cloths for wiping hands and dishes – and make sure they’re clean.
• Use different coloured cloths for the dishes, the bench and the floor – ideally, use paper towels to wipe up floor spills.
• Change your dishcloth regularly. For a quick fix, rinse well then microwave it for 2 to 4 minutes on high … that’ll kill most of the bugs.

Cook

• Keep raw and cooked foods separate at all times.
• After cutting raw meat and poultry, wash your chopping board and your knives thoroughly in hot soapy water or in the dishwasher.
• Use separate chopping boards for raw food and food that’s not going to be cooked before eating (such as salads).
• Cook chicken, mince and sausages right through. If in doubt, the best way to tell is to use a meat thermometer to check these meats are cooked to the safe internal temperature of 75°C.
• Marinate food in the fridge – and cook the marinade before pouring it over cooked food.

Chill

• Make sure your fridge temperature stays in the safe zone between 2°C and 4°C.
• Cover food before putting in the fridge.
• Always cover raw meat and store on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that juices don’t drip on other food.
• Freezers should be between -15°C and -18°C but food is safe as long as it is frozen solid. Anything that defrosts should be cooked, refrigerated or eaten within two hours. If in doubt, throw it out.
• Defrost food in a covered container in the fridge overnight or on the defrost setting in the microwave. Make sure it’s defrosted right through before cooking.
• Perishable food can be left covered at room temperature for up to two hours. Then it should be eaten, refrigerated or thrown out.