Kitchen Safety

Last week, I covered what to keep in your kitchen as far as tools and staple foods. Well, that’s all fine and good, but if your kitchen’s an OSHA nightmare or a Hazmat zone, having all the right stuff isn’t going to make a difference. Today, I’d like to cover some basics of kitchen safety, particularly the stages before and after food is cooked. Though much of what follows is just common sense, not all of it is common knowledge. Take this stuff to heart, folks; it might mean your life or that of your loved ones…

Before I go any further, I want to point out that I’m not an expert on any of this stuff. I’m not a scientist, a doctor, a nutritionist, or a household-cleanliness expert. 98.2% of the stuff below I’ve learned through experience, know from common sense, or have found in books or on the Internetagoogle machine. You can find much of this on your own, but it’s a lot easier to have it all in the same place, yes? Yes! BUT, that being said, if you are any of the above, or find a credible source that contradicts or disputes any of the information below, PLEASE let me know and I will make the necessary corrections or updates. My goal is to steer you right, not wrong, and I would hate to be responsible for anyone getting hurt or sick because of my advice. More than that, I would just hate if you got hurt or sick! Safety and enjoyment are priorities in my kitchen, and I want them to be in yours, too, but accuracy is important when dealing with topics such as food safety and household chemicals. Don’t hesitate to let me know if I got something wrong, missed an important step, or left out a key piece of information. This blog may be for fun, but I take this stuff seriously. Life is not something to play with. Thank you, that is all.

Now, on to the good stuff! =)

 

The Basics of Kitchen Safety

Tools, Equipment, & Storage

It’s safe to say that you all know not to stick your hand in a garbage disposal while it’s running, yes? Good, I won’t have to cover that. The same goes for anything with a sharp edge, whether it’s a knife, blender or food processor blade, or even scissors. Just keep your hands and fingers out of the way, and for goodness sake, don’t run with them. =)

As I mentioned in my post about what tools to keep in your kitchen, store knives in such a way that they won’t cut you when you’re paying less attention than you should, and end up cutting yourself while retrieving them. This goes for all sharp-bladed objects, including graters, can openers, vegetable peelers, and pizza cutters. These things are sharper than you might think.

Also as mentioned last week, use care when lifting heavy objects either from low or high shelves and when putting them away. You don’t want to hurt your back or fall from a step ladder because you pulled an electric griddle from a high shelf and it was just a *teensy* bit too heavy for you (learn from my fail…) Always use proper lifting technique (bend the knees, don’t lift from your back, etc.), or get someone taller and/or stronger than you to help.

Make sure all drawers pull out easily, stay in their slots when pulled out, and close fully. Check that cabinet doors aren’t hanging off the hinges, and also open and close easily. Countertops should be flush against the back wall, and (almost) perfectly level (some slope slightly backwards to prevent things rolling off onto the floor). If you have small children in the house, or live in earthquake country like I do, install security locks on the cabinet doors (if they don’t have safety lock hinges already) and on drawers that contain knives or other sharp objects. This will keep your kids out of where they shouldn’t be, and safely on the shelves in the event of a big tremor. (Shout out to my co-worker, Vic, for pointing this one out!)

Floors should not be cracked or have holes, peeling up from the concrete (as linoleum is prone to do), or covered in dirt, water, or grease.

Ceiling fixtures (overhead lights, fans, pot racks, or crossbeams) should be secure in the ceiling, have plenty of clearance over work areas, and be checked periodically to make sure there are no loose bolts, frayed wiring, or cracked drywall around them. Same goes for anything secured into the walls or cabinet insides and undersides (like a spice rack, paper towel holder, or under-cabinet lighting).

Electrical outlets should be functional and safe, and if not, repair them ASAP, and clearly mark those which aren’t in 100% working condition. Nothing’s worse than a shock while plugging in your waffle iron on a Sunday morning.

 If you put down rugs or anti-fatigue mats in front of the sink, stove, or fridge, make sure they have rubber backing or are otherwise slip-proof, and can be washed either in the washer or with a hose.

All windows and doors leading to and from your kitchen should be fully functional, secure, and not blocked by large or heavy objects. You may need to open that window or run out that door in case of a fire. Drafts can change the temperature of your kitchen and affect food storage, so find ‘em and fix ‘em as soon as you can. If your kitchen gets a lot of light, have curtains or blinds installed to block out the intense heat and light of midday, or whenever your kitchen is warmest.  

 

General Safety

Cooking is delightful. It’s also hot, messy, greasy, cold, and wet. Be prepared for burns from grease splatters and fingers placed just a little too close to the pan you’re holding; for your hands to be covered in raw meat, egg whites, and coconut flour; for your oven to catch fire at least once in your lifetime; and to slip on some rogue bacon fat that flew out of the pan and away from the fire… and right to the floor. At the end of this outline is a list of things you’ll want to have to keep kitchen hazards to a minimum, and links to how to treat cuts & burns and how to put out various types of kitchen fires, and a list of who to call when the tough (you) need to get going and let someone else handle the job.

Always, always, always clean up a spill right away. This is not just important for cleanliness; imagine you forget that you spilled water in front of the fridge while you were putting your Brita filter back, and later, when you go to put in a big pot full of hot chili… it’s like something out of a cartoon, feet above your head, back on the floor, covered in a hot mess, only without the comical aspect. Have paper towels or kitchen rags (specifically devoted to this purpose; more on that in a moment) at the ready for just this reason. Same goes for countertops, which is more about cleanliness than safety, but just as important.

Don’t store ANYTHING in the oven, ever. Again, learn from my fail: I had to keep a stock pot in the oven of an old apartment because none of the cabinets were big enough to hold it. Well, one day I turned on the broiler to make salmon, and 10 minutes later I had a kitchen full of the acrid stench of burning plastic (the pot handles were NOT oven proof), and a full-on panic attack because I’d set off the smoke alarm… in the ENTIRE apartment building. Talk about embarrassing. But it could have been far worse if I’d left the room for more than those 10 minutes.

Time is often of the essence when cooking, but don’t rush yourself. I learned that the hard way when I dang near cut my thumb off. One reason why I love cooking so much is that it makes me focus on what’s in front of me, instead of letting my brain run all over the place (and as a Type A personality, my brain is goinggoinggoing all. The. TIME). Cooking is when I have to keep my mind and hands focused on exactly what I’m doing when I’m doing it, with the only other possible thoughts being about when the water is boiling, whether I pre-heated the oven before I started mixing my muffin batter, or whether I made sure to get zucchini at the store before I try to make Mount Vesuvius for breakfast (recipe coming soon!). My boyfriend has a saying that has served me well in all parts of my life: ‘Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.’ This is another reason why accessibility (also covered in last week’s post) is so important. If your plan is derailed by too many little things going wrong, or even one kinda big thing, and you start to move too fast, get flustered, or forget something (like turning off the fire under the bacon), you could do more than ruin the dish- you or someone else could get hurt. Keep calm and focused, move slowly and smoothly, and most of all, have a sense of humor. If things go wrong, learn to laugh it off and move on. Life’s too short to sweat little things like that.

 

Food Safety

There are entire websites dedicated to the subject of food cooking temperatures alone, so I won’t go into the excruciating details here. But I do HIGHLY recommend you educate yourself on the subject posthaste, and get yourself some thermometers: One for meat, one for your oven, and one for your fridge. You could also get one for your freezer, and a candy thermometer is helpful in some situations but not necessary. A vast majority of food safety is concerned with time & temperature, whether it’s the time & temp of cooking, “holding” (the time in which the dish was in the “danger” zone of 40-140 degrees), or storage. Your method of cooking, holding, and storage also makes a big difference in the safety of your food, so be sure to pop into one of the below websites for more information.   

Even if you’re obeying every single rule in the food safety book, it does no good if you start with food that’s already contaminated. When you’re out shopping, use a discerning eye and take the time to find the freshest things you can. Carefully check the ‘sell-by’ and ‘use or freeze by’ dates on refrigerated items like meats, dairy products, and deli items; know the difference between a‘best by’ date, a ‘sell-by’ date, and a ‘must consume by’ date; and always inspect things carefully before putting them in your cart or basket. Avoid produce that’s wilted, slimy, heavily bruised or banged up, wrinkled, moldy, very underripe, or overripe (unless you’re looking for bananas for bread or muffins). Buy only fresh meats, or those frozen in-house (ask the butchers; they can tell you what came in frozen and what they froze themselves). Fish is a little different; some types have to be flash-frozen for freshness, but make sure the store marks those that were previously frozen and defrosted at the store. NEVER re-freeze anything that has been defrosted! It becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Follow these guidelines for in-store meat selection, these for pork, and these for fish. Canned items should not be bulging, leaking, or dented near the seams (away from the seams is usually fine). Canned, bottled & jarred items should be fully sealed; press on the lid, and if it pops in and back up, give it to a store employee for removal from the shelf- don’t just let the next person deal with it. They may not be as observant as you. Anything in a box, bag, or carton should be fully sealed on both ends. And again, check the sell-by and expiration dates even on packaged foods. That can of tuna may have been there for months beyond the best-by date, and you won’t know unless you check.

Mishandling your food is ground zero for contamination, so always, ALWAYS, wash your hands before AND after you handle your foods, especially raw meats. Use tolerably hot water (don’t scald yourself, but make sure it’s definitely bordering on hot) and soap (it doesn’t have to be anti-bacterial, just good dish or hand soap will work), and dry your hands with a CLEAN kitchen towel or paper towels. [Note: I recommend keeping a huge stack of kitchen towels around for drying your hands, drying dishes, and wiping up counter spills- just don’t use the same one to do all of that! Re-using soiled towels is a big source of cross-contamination, so make sure you have plenty on hand. Or you could just play it safe and use paper towels, though I’ll admit that the environmentalist in me is having a hard time doing this… more on cleaning safety in a bit. Ultimately, it’s best to avoid handling your food as much as possible, using utensils when you can, but if it’s unavoidable, make sure you’ve got clean hands to start with. You can use food service-grade gloves if you’re really paranoid you want to be extra careful. And I sincerely hope it goes without saying that you should always wash your hands after using the bathroom, sneezing, coughing, or blowing your nose, and if you’re sick (at all, any kind of sick), don’t cook for anyone but yourself, even for a couple days after you recover. Germs are hardy little suckers, and they’re die-hard survivalists. You can still spread a cold virus even days after your symptoms are gone.

Make sure to prep raw foods separately from cooked foods or foods that are to be cooked. I prefer to prep my veggies first and keep them in the fridge until it’s time to add them to the pot or pan, then prep my meats on a separate cutting board and after washing my hands and knife (I really only use one knife- my famous ceramic knife- so I wash it and my hands as many as a dozen times during a “batch” cooking session). Always use separate cutting boards, dishes, and serving utensils for raw and cooked foods, and to keep up the restaurant-grade food safety, use a different spoon to dish up the food than the one you cooked with.  

Keeping food within safe temperatures is key. This is when thermometers come in very handy. Cold foods should be kept between 32 and 40 degrees, hot foods above 140 degrees (though above 165 is generally the safest) and frozen foods at zero or below. Use your thermometers to check temps after cooking, during holding (if you do holding), and after storing overnight. Don’t save anything that has been between these temps for more than 2 hours, or for more than 1 hour in temps above 90 degrees. If you have to guess how long it’s been, throw it out. Don’t take chances on maybe.

NEVER thaw food on the counter! It’s oceanfront property to microbes. Thaw in the fridge overnight, or until the center of the meat or dish is no longer solid, but it’s still cold all over. Some will say that it’s ok to thaw frozen, raw meat in the microwave; I beg to differ. Since microwaves don’t heat evenly, there are bound to be spots in the meat that actually cooked and spots that are still frozen solid. This leaves the meat vulnerable to uneven cooking, and therefore to potential spots for raw meat and overdone meat on the same plate. The key to avoiding the NEED for microwave defrosting anything other than a pre-cooked, frozen meal is to plan ahead, tips for which should be coming to you on Saturday! In the meantime, don’t defrost in the microwave, please. Just don’t.

Always wash your produce, no matter how organic and local it is. You never know what sort of unscrupulous person sneezed on it, or how many times it fell on the floor before you got to it. Also, make sure to keep produce away from raw meats, from the grocery cart all the way to your fridge. Check out these tips here, here, and here for buying, washing, and storing your produce.

Take a moment to wipe off the lids of any canned goods you bring home. Call it paranoia or overkill, but when you break the seal on the can with a can opener, all the dirt, dust, and bacteria that’s coagulated in that lip will go right down into the food inside. Gross. Do it as you put the cans away. It takes only seconds, you’re holding the can anyway, and you may one day be grateful for it. Oh, and be sure to rinse off and wash your can opener (carefully, it’s sharp) after every use.

Keeping your prep & cooking surfaces free of crumbs, dust, crusted-on food, grease, and liquids is important in preventing bacteria from shacking up in your kitchen. Make cleaning a regular, right-after-you’re-done-eating habit: put the leftovers away; do the dishes; wipe down the countertops, stove, and backsplash (and the vent hood if you were making anything greasy or that smoked a bit- bacon is a good example of both); give the floor a quick sweep; and change your dish towels and put the old oneS right into their own laundry bag or basket. Additionally, make sure your dish drainer is clean, and any towels you use to rest your just-washed dishes on are fresh from the drawer or dryer. Change the towel between sink loads. Once a week (with heavy kitchen use) or once every few weeks to a month, give your kitchen a real deep cleaning: wipe out the insides and outsides of cabinets and drawers, clean the range hood, clean out the fridge & freezer,** clean under your stove & fridge (get someone to help move these out from the wall), and clean the oven, either on its self-clean cycle or with oven cleaner. Keep in mind that oven cleaner is HIGHLY dangerous around flame & fumes and can be VERY toxic, so follow the maker’s instructions to a T if you’re using it.

**Clean & sanitize the fridge right away if there was something moldy in there that wasn’t in its own container, or if raw meat juices were leaked during defrost. Move other items out of the fridge first; see below for a sanitizing solution recommended by the FDA.

Here are some sites to check out for more info on food safety, including times & temps for cooking, holding, and storage:

http://www.foodsafety.gov/

http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/

An Internet search will also turn up the specifics of particular types of meats, fish, and produce, and will help you further with in-store selection, what to look for, and what to avoid.

 

Cleaning Safety

We’re all aware of the toxicity of common household cleaning products and all the restrictions surrounding them: Wear rubber gloves and sometimes a mask and/or protective goggles, use in a well-ventilated area, don’t mix bleach with ammonia, etc. etc. Though I prefer to use natural and homemade cleaning products, this is largely a lifestyle choice and preference; I don’t expect you to ditch your Lysol and start using baking soda and lemon juice… though it would be better for you and the environment! Just sayin… =) Anyway, the most common, cheapest, and safest method of sanitizing any surface is with a good old-fashioned bleach solution. The USDA recommends a solution of about 1 teaspoon of bleach per quart of water for food-contact surfaces, which can easily be mixed into a spray bottle and used for countertops, cutting boards, and refrigerator drawers and shelves. Wash the surface thoroughly with hot, soapy water; rinse or spray with warm, clean water; spray with the bleach solution and let sit for at least a few minutes or, if possible, immerse it in the solution (if it fits in a sink or large bucket); take it out of the solution to air dry or pat dry with clean paper towels. DON’T rinse it with water! (Source: Home Comforts, by Cheryl Mendelson) BTW, Home Comforts is a FANTASTIC book for tips and info not just about the kitchen, but for the whole house! In fact, I referenced it for almost every part of this post. It’s a great resource for those of us who are, shall I say, less than domestically inclined? =) Buy it. It’s worth every penny.

To sponge, or not to sponge? This is an ages-old debate, and no one ever really wins simply because the answer is that it doesn’t matter. The sponge itself is not the enemy. The bacteria and nastiness growing on it is, and how much of that nastiness sticks around your kitchen and ends up on your dishes, your countertops, and eventually into you, depends on how clean you keep it. The same goes for a dishcloth, loofah, brush, or whatever you choose to wash your dishes with. I’m a microwave-it girl myself, and once it’s cooled off and mostly dried out I stand it upright in a “drainer” next to my sink. Check out this article for tips on keeping your sponges, dishcloths, & brushes clean, and this one for in-depth photos and additional tips.

 

Links for kitchen safety:

Treating cuts & burns

Putting out kitchen fires

What to have:

-          Floor mats/anti-fatigue mats with rubber backing

-          Pot holders/ oven mitts

-          Splatter screen

-          Fire extinguisher

-          Baking soda (for a lot of reasons, but mostly for putting out grease fires for the purposes of this list)

-          First aid kit with burn gel, bandages, antibiotic cream, sterile gauze, and medical tape

-          Household bleach (for disinfectant)

-          Empty spray bottles

-          Kitchen towels (and lots of ‘em!)

-          Rubber gloves just for dishes (don’t use these when cleaning counters, cabinets, or floors)

-          Latex/nitrile disposable gloves for dirty jobs (like cleaning the fridge and using harsh chemical cleaners if you choose to)

-          Face mask/ventilated breathing mask (for cleaning the oven or using other harsh chemicals)

-          Goggles (just in case; sometimes you need to protect your eyes, too)

-          Tool kit (for installing items or making repairs- when it doesn’t require a professional; don’t try to fix your own electrical sockets or garbage disposal unless you’re trained and certified to do so!)

Make sure you have the right phone numbers and/or websites available and in a place where you’ll see or find them easily for the following situations:

-          911 or your local emergency line

-          Poison Control in case of accidental ingestion of chemicals

-          Your local gas company if you smell gas in or around your house (if you do, DO NOT try to turn on lights or use a flame of ANY KIND, open all doors on your way out of the house, and call the gas company as soon as you’re outside. DO NOT go back in the house until the gas company gives the all-clear.)

-          An appliance repair center or the manufacturer’s appliance repair hotline if your dishwasher, stove/oven, refrigerator,  or garbage disposal breaks (you can also call Sears; they fix just about anything, even if they don’t carry that brand or you didn’t buy it from them, but make sure you have a manufacturer’s make and model number ready before you do)

-          A good, trustworthy plumber if the kitchen floods from a burst pipe, the sink backs up, or your water heater goes wonky

-          A reliable electrician for (duh) electrical repairs

-          Referrals to contractors in case of drywall, cabinet, floor, or door/window replacement and repair, or for when you’re ready for a remodel or update

 

I think that just about covers it! But in case I missed anything, or, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve made an (innocent) erroneous error or oversight, please let me know ASAP so I can correct it.

How do YOU stay safe in your kitchen and home? What sorts of tools, tips, or resources have you found that have made a difference in the safety and functionality of your cave? Let me know what y’all think! Grok on!!!

~Megan