Good Practice

Contamination of food can be controlled by maintaining good food hygiene and housekeeping practices. High standards of food hygiene minimise food spoilage and contamination and help to ensure that when food is eaten, it is as wholesome and as free of pathogens as possible.

Good housekeeping practices are essential to ensuring a premises is safe to prepare food in, both for the food and the food handlers. It is the maintenance of a clean and tidy workplace.

Good housekeeping maintains a clean and tidy workplace, promotes wholesome and safe food, encourages economy, and complies with safe working practices. These aspects of housekeeping are all reliant on efficient and effective cleaning practices and the safe handling and storage of raw, cooked and prepared ingredients and food achieved by:

• preventing unhygienic situations (pest control and refuse storage).
• thorough cleaning practices (cleansing, sanitising, prevention of cross-contamination and re-contamination).
• a high standard of personal hygiene (ensuring the food handler doesn't provide the risk).

Keeping the place clean

According to the Food Hygiene Regulations and the Building Code, food premises must be designed to facilitate safe food preparation and a safe working environment. Any food preparation, storage or display area must be up to the required standard before it can be licensed to sell or supply food.

• All surfaces should be continuously smooth, impervious to water, clean, readily cleanable, resistant to wear and of a light colour.
• Floors must also be resistant to wear and covered to the walls and permanent fixtures.
• Ventilation must be adequate to remove odours, smokes, moisture and to provide a comfortable environment that doesn't attract pests.
• Lighting must be adequate to allow safe work and so that labels can be clearly read and dirt can be seen and cleaned up.
• A staff changing room must be available so that fresh clothes can be put on to prepare food and outside clothes are not left in the food preparation or storage areas.
• Wash hand basins must be provided convenient to the food preparation areas and the toilets. These must have hot and cold running water, soap, a nail brush and some sort of hand-drying device. Disposable paper towels are thought to be the best option as they prevent recontamination of hands.
• Toilet and hand washing areas must be maintained in a clean state and well stocked with required supplies.
• Grease traps must be regularly cleaned out to prevent odours and attraction to pests.
• Smoking must not be allowed in any part of a food preparation, storage or display area.
• Only registered dogs are allowed in any food premises. Cats are permitted for rodent control purposes as long as they are not providing any source of contamination and are kept outside.
• Refuse must be collected in a lidded container that is cleaned out after each emptying. It must not smell or attract pests. Putrescible (rotting) refuse must be removed from the premises each day or stored in a clearly marked chiller until collected.