Dubai: Preventing cross contamination can significantly reduce chances of food borne illnesses, food safety experts have said.
One of the most common causes of such illnesses, including food poisoning, is keeping raw and cooked food together and using the same chopping boards for different kinds of food. These are the most common incidences of negligence observed by the Dubai Municipality during inspections.
“Cross contamination is one of the most common causes of food borne illnesses and a little care can help us prevent it. Using the same grill to heat and cook chicken and meat is among the most common mistakes.
“Not only in restaurants, negligence in handling food is common in households as well,” said Bobby Krishna, senior food studies and surveys officer with the Food Control Department, Dubai Municipality.
The Dubai Municipality is generating awareness through brochures and leaflets about proper handling of food to prevent cross contamination.
Giving details on how improper handling can lead to cross contamination, Krishna said: “Cooked food easily gets contaminated when mixed with raw food. The microbes get easily transferred from raw to cooked food and this can happen while cooking, cutting and also storage.”
According to the awareness presentation by the municipality, raw meat, chicken and fish contain abundant bacteria which can easily contaminate another item of food when we touch it without washing hands.
Bacteria can also get transferred from raw food to cooked items through knives, cutting boards, utensils etc... and may cause severe food poisoning.
The Food Control Department advises people to be particularly careful about using separate cutting boards and knives for raw and ready–to-eat items. Another important safety measure to be kept in mind is not to touch cooked or ready-to-eat items without a proper hand wash after touching raw items like meat, fish and poultry.
While shopping, keep raw food bags separate from cooked and ready to eat food.
