By Lekpea Buekor
The kitchen is the heart of every home. All the sweetest aromas in the house steam out of the kitchen. The kitchen is commonly referred to as a place for family bonding and a place that’s far more than just cooking.
It is a place where your young learns important manners, and adopt healthy eating habits. It is where the magic of the home happens!
Albeit, what happens in the kitchen can negatively or positively impact the entire family.
Therefore, food safety and good hygiene practices should not be overlooked.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, good sanitary practices should be carried out in the kitchen from time to time to ensure that food is safe and as well prepared in a healthy environment.
For Today’s Edition, Amazon’s watch magazine has compiled a list of deal cleaning Practices to help keep your kitchen clean and free from germs.
1) Clear counters and wipe clean
According to food sanitation experts, food can commonly get stuck in counter cracks and between fork tines.
“Untidy surfaces may spread toxic organisms to people or food,” says the “Serving it Safe” report. This unkempt surface could also harbour cockroaches, insects and microorganisms.
Dirty counters take up the workspace and can be unsafe. If you pile dishes, pots, or knives, you’re taking up useful space, which can probably cause an accident as you make preparations while cooking; also, clear off your countertops.
Then, clean the surfaces with a material soaked in warm soapy water, or you could use a multi-purpose kitchen cleaner with mild/ surface friendly bleach in it.
Leaving your countertops clear and sparkling isn’t just a beautiful sight to behold, but it leaves the entire kitchen freshened up.
2) Empty the trash bin early enough before it is full or starts to stink
Discarding the trash regularly keeps the kitchen fresh and deters bacterial growth. You could start by taking out the trash at the end of every day, this allows your kitchen to smell nice, and food particles or leftovers in the trash bin doesn’t begin to decompose and start producing maggots and fruit flies.
It is also important to remember to clean the trash bin from time to time, as it could become a breeding site for microorganisms if left unwashed.
Using a simple mix of white distilled vinegar and half a cup of dish wash liquid, to make a cleansing mixture. Ensure to have rubber gloves on so you don’t pick up germs from the trash bin.
3) Wash dishes as soon as possible
According to an international Journal on Public Health, leaving untidy dishes for longer periods is a major source of food poisoning.
Although people prefer to relax for a bit after having a meal, we often forget to clean up our dishes there by leaving them for longer periods.
Washing dishes immediately after they are used is much healthier, this does not give room for dirt stick and will not harbour microbes.
4) Scrub your sink daily
It will amaze you to know that a typical kitchen sink harbours more bacteria than a trash can, especially if you are the type that cooks a lot.
Hence, it is important to wash the inside of your sink and faucet every day to eliminate bacteria. You could wash your sink and faucet using hot, soapy water.
Scrub the surface using a diluted bleach mix. Doing this twice a week keeps your kitchen clean and free from bacteria breeding sites.
5) Replace or wash your sponge often
For some, a kitchen sponge is the last thing that comes to mind when thinking about what to change around the kitchen.
According to a Brazilian study on Kitchen hygiene practices, it was revealed that a kitchen sponge, if not properly cleaned, is a potential breeding site for microbes.
So, it is very important to get a new one from time to time or regularly wash and air dry your dishwashing sponge.
To disinfect an old sponge, boil your sponge for 5 minutes.
Also, you can put a wet sponge into the microwave and heat it for a few minutes to disinfect it, but you should be careful so that it doesn’t burn if your microwave is highly active, do this preferably on low heat.
6) Sweep your kitchen daily and mop often during the week
Keep dust, crumbs, and dirt out of your kitchen. If you’ve got sloppy eaters in your home, you should endeavour to sweep after every meal.
Likewise, once or twice within the week, mop the floor. For tiled floors fill a bucket using hot soapy water, adding some disinfectants that contains vinegar and bleaching agents.
Leaving your floor not mopped for a long time allows dirt to stick, harbours germs and bacteria making it more challenging to get them removed.
7) Clean your fridge and freezer
I visited a friend recently and got myself a glass of drink from the fridge. I was almost knocked down by the stench that hit me.
Being a place where food items, fruits, and most foodstuffs are preserved, it is vital to clean up the fridge and freezer regularly. Sometimes, you could store up things and completely forget about them and before you would remember, they would have rotted.
Throw away old food and clean fridge shelves using warm water, some dish wash liquid and a clean towel/ a small piece of clothing, (the same applies to your freezer).
The refrigerator is likened to the kitchen’s workhorse; hence, you should pay attention to it. Ensure to turn off all appliances while cleaning.
Your food tends to stay longer and fresh when the fridge is clean
The kitchen is probably one of the busiest rooms and one of the messiest rooms in most homes. Following these cleaning routines can be quite helpful in keeping your kitchen safe, healthy, and attractive. A tidy kitchen assures you of healthy food and a healthy family.
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