PERSONAL HYGIENE ISSUES - HANDS ( EZEKIEL TAN )

Personal Hygiene

Hand

Firstly, hands are an important role in the cooking industry as we will use your hands to do almost everything in the kitchen and this includes cutting, handling of food, cooking of food. There are a few factors that causes illnesses and contaminations due to our hands.

First factor would be when cutting the food. When we accidentally cut our finger, blood will drip on the food. If the person was handling ready to eat food and if he was diagnosed with blood transmittable diseases, it would cause the person who consumes the food to be infected as well. How do you solve it? We have to bandage it properly and wear gloves after cutting ourselves.

Second factor would be when touching raw food. When we handle raw chicken followed by ready-to-eat food, this might cause salmonella or food-borne illnesses. This is due to the juices or blood of the raw chicken and when you did not clean your hand properly before handling the food, it might cause the bacteria of the chicken to be transferred to the ready-to-eat food. How do you solve it? Wash your hand properly using warm water, apply soap and scrub your hand thoroughly.

Third factor would be when we are cooking the food. As chefs tend to use their hands to taste food and season the food when cooking, there might be a chance of contamination due to the hands. An example would be, if a chef accidentally touched something dirty such as the floor when picking up something, and without washing his/her hands, followed by using the same hand to season the food, it will actually cause food poisoning. How do you solve it? Ensure hands are clean when handling food.

  Picture 1 - Dirty and long nails

Picture 2 - Clean and short nails

When talking about hands, nails also contribute to an important part of personal hygiene. Long fingernails would increase the chances of bacteria being stuck in it and can actually contaminate the food product that a chef is preparing. S. Aureus also causes food poisoning as it is commonly found on the skins or hair of people. Therefore, when the nails are in contact of those body parts, it can actually cause the bacteria to grow on the food if the food is not kept at the desired temperature (1-4 degree Celsius). How do you solve it? Ensure that nails are kept short at all times and scrub your nails and lather with soap before having contact with food. Always follow the correct way of washing your hands to ensure that the hand is clean before preparing food.

Picture 3 - Steps on proper hand washing technique