Beat the bad bugs in your kitchen

USING damp tea towels, washing chicken and using a grubby dishcloth are just some of the bad habits which increase our risk of food poisoning.

Each year it’s estimated that about one million people in the UK get food poisoning, with more cases reported in the summer months.

But many of these could be prevented with just a few simple changes to the way we store and prepare foods.

Dietitian Juliette Kellow says there are kitchen crimes we’re all guilty of – and here she reveals the ways we can minimise our risk of them becoming dangerous…

Tea towels can be a major source of food poisoning bugs, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Almost half of those studied were teeming with bacteria such as E. coli. Those that were damp carried more bacteria than dry ones.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Use a clean tea towel every day. When it’s damp, let it dry before using it again.

More than a third of us still rinse poultry or meat before cooking it, a survey from the Food Standards Agency reveals. But this splashes bacteria on to our hands and clothes, as well as the sink and nearby work surfaces, which can then contaminate other foods.

The main bug of concern is campylobacter, the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK. Four out of five cases come from contaminated poultry.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Don’t rinse poultry and meat, and make sure it’s cooked thoroughly. A used kitchen sponge can contain thousands of bacteria per square inch, including the nasties E. coli and salmonella.

A study commissioned by the Global Hygiene Council found that 60% of dishcloths are contaminated with E. coli, while recent German research found a total of 362 different types of bacteria in just 14 used kitchen sponges.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Replace dishcloths and sponges regularly. Use disposable cloths or paper towels where possible and disinfect or wash your reusable cloths at 60°C after each use. Around seven out of 10 of us smell meat, poultry, milk and yoghurt to decide whether it’s safe to eat, according to an FSA survey. But it’s a waste of time because most food poisoning bacteria are odourless.

Paying attention to use-by dates is a far more effective way to judge the safety of food.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Don’t use any food or drink that’s past its use-by date, even if it smells fine – eating it could make you ill. It’s fine to eat foods past their best-before date though – these dates are about food quality rather than safety. According to the Food Standards Agency, 57% of us know it’s important to prepare different foods on different chopping boards. But how many times have you simply flipped the board over?

Unfortunately, this contaminates your work top with bacteria, which can then get on to other foods.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Use different chopping boards for raw and cooked food. Make sure boards are in good condition. Food juices – and any bacteria they contain – can soak into wood and grow there for several hours, while boards that have been damaged by knives are harder to clean and bacteria can thrive. After use, scrub boards well with hot water.

You’ve probably never thought about what’s lurking in your washing-up bowl beyond the dirty dishes. But a study from the University of Bristol found samples of washing-up water contained campylobacter. Generally the lower the temperature of the water, the more bacteria present.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: If you have a dishwasher, use it. The higher temperature of the water helps to destroy bugs. Otherwise, wear rubber gloves so you can use hotter water to wash up.

A whopping 87% of people admitted to eating food that had fallen on the floor, with women in particular following the five-second rule – a belief that it’s OK to eat food if it’s been in contact with the floor for five seconds or less, a survey from Aston University found.

The researchers went on to show that while there is an element of truth in this – the less time food was in contact with the floor, the fewer bacteria it contained – it depended on the floor.

Carpeted surfaces are least likely to transfer bacteria, whereas tiles and laminate surfaces transferred more.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Eating food that’s fallen on the floor carries a risk for food poisoning because bacteria can be transferred to food. Don’t take a risk – just bin it. Many of us put salad leaves straight on to our plate. But unless the packaging states “ready to eat”, they should always be washed to help lower the risk of food poisoning.

In 2016, more than 160 people became ill, and two people died from an E. coli outbreak in the UK that was linked to salad leaves.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, romaine lettuce was thought to be the main culprit of an outbreak that struck in America.

■ BEAT THE BUGS: Washing salad won’t remove all bacteria but it will help to lower the risk of infection.

Don’t eat any food that’s past its use-by date... it could make you ill, but you can eat it past a bestbefore date