You know I like to think not only am I good a food safety, I'm even better than most. At least a little better I think. I still remember the things my mother taught me and that I learned as a child. The main thing is cleanliness and always washing. Washing you hands when possible, especially before handling food. And always washing pots, pans and plates and utensils when you're done with them, even if they look clean. Anytime they touch an food or have been in your mouth. And when you dry dishes, avoid water getting trapped in them. Let them dry upside down so the water drips out of them. Don't let the water get trapped especially, for any reason. And close lids tightly on things and put lids back on jars always. Cover food in the refrigerator always. And now as I've said, I put dates on them so they are thrown out on the fourth day. Unless they are frozen right away, and there isn't a power outage that lasts more than an hour or two. Then they should be good for a year or two in the freezer, kept frozen. And when you take dishes to the dish basin, it's a good idea to rinse them off before you even wash them later, which I still do. Trapped food and food that is allowed to decompose is always potentially dangerous. And I learned in HS that food poisoning can come from unexpected places. Like a can opener that is never washed. Or more recently I was telling people, you should never reuse a food covering for the same reason. Plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Even again, if it looks clean and like no food touched it.
Took a number of commercial and industrial food safety courses over the years. From food storage to food prep. To Cooking . For me it started in a food manufacturing facility. To retirement. To volunteering to helping in a kitchen. To cooking mass meals (free community meals.) And everything in-between lol. Food safety is a science. But your in the right direction Jimbee. Food safety has to include the consumer too.
And I have a question. I've often heard it said that rinsing is not enough for dishes, you must wash them in the basin or in the dish washer. Why? What if you could rinse it to the point that visible dirt was gone from them? Or what if you rinsed the visible dirt from them throughout the day and then washed them or put them in the dish basin to soak at the end of the day? I sometimes do that last one. What is the significance of visible dirt, residual dirt and food that you can't see on dishes and utensils and just cleaning. The last one to remove germs too, I'm assuming.
Scrape the food off , sanitize. Rinse, air dry. Cotton or sponges can harbor food bacteria. So they should not be used in a commercial or food kitchen that serves food to the public. As a non profit meal provider we kind of fall in a gray area. So they have us follow the same standards as a commercial kitchen. Scrubbie pads are what we use to clean with. Man made pads that don't support bacteria. At home I use a high temperature dishwasher most of the time. And any pots or pans I hand clean the same way as above. I also let them air dry. No towels used. I grew up with my folks using cotton dish clothes and dish towels. Or a sponge to clean with. Maybe a couple of times a week a clean dish clothe would be changed. And we never thought about it. It was just the way we did it. Even today volunteers will grab a dish cloth or towel to help. And we have to explain why we can't use them.
