Skip to main content
N I Direct government services

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Contacts
  • Help
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Health and wellbeing
  3. Living well
  4. Healthy lives
  5. Food safety and hygiene
  6. Keeping food safe

Keeping your kitchen clean

Keeping your kitchen clean, including worktops and chopping boards, is essential to keep food safe as bacteria can grow and spread.

Worktops

It's very important to keep worktops and chopping boards clean because they touch the food you are going to eat. If they aren't properly clean, bacteria could spread to food and make you ill.

You should:

  • always wash worktops before you start preparing food
  • wipe up any spilt food straight away
  • always wash worktops thoroughly after they have been touched by raw food including meat, poultry, vegetables or raw eggs
  • never put ready-to-eat food, such as washed and ready to eat salad, bread or washed fruit, on a worktop or chopping board that has been touched by raw meat or other raw foods, unless you have washed it thoroughly first

If you have a dishwasher, this is a very effective way to clean plastic chopping boards. Dishwashers can wash at a very high temperature, which kills bacteria. If you don't have a dishwasher, wash chopping boards thoroughly with hot water and washing-up liquid.

Ideally, it's better to have separate chopping boards for raw food and for ready-to-eat food.

Cloths

Dirty, damp cloths are the perfect place for bacteria to breed. So it's very important to wash kitchen cloths and sponges regularly and leave them to dry before using them again.

Ideally, try to keep different cloths for different jobs. For example, use one cloth to wipe worktops and another to wash dishes. This helps to stop bacteria spreading.

If you want to choose the safest option, you could use disposable kitchen towel to wipe worktops and chopping boards. This is because you throw the kitchen towel away after using it once, so it is less likely to spread bacteria than cloths you use again.

Tea towels can also spread bacteria, so it's important to wash them regularly and be careful how you use them. Remember, if you wipe your hands on a tea towel after you have touched raw meat, this will spread bacteria to the towel. Then, if you use the tea towel to dry a plate, the bacteria will spread to the plate.

Knives, spoons and other utensils

It's important to keep knives, wooden spoons, spatulas, tongs, and the like clean to help stop bacteria spreading to food. It's especially important to wash them thoroughly after using them with raw food, because they could spread bacteria to other food.

If you have a dishwasher, this is a very effective way to clean knives and other utensils because dishwashers can wash at a very high temperature, which kills bacteria. If you don't have a dishwasher, wash them thoroughly with hot water and washing-up liquid.

Hands

It's very easy for hands to spread bacteria all round the kitchen, because we touch so many things, from food to fridge handles, towels to can openers. So to keep your kitchen clean you need to keep your hands clean.

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water at each of these times:

  • before starting to prepare food
  • after touching raw food such as meat, poultry, vegetables and eggs
  • after going to the toilet
  • after touching the bin
  • after touching pets

Dry your hands thoroughly, because if they are wet they will spread bacteria more easily. The safest option is to use disposable kitchen towels, or to use a towel that you only use for drying hands - not your apron or a tea towel.

Share this page Share on Facebook (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share on Twitter (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share by email (external link opens in a new window / tab)

Keeping food safe

  • Cooking food properly
  • Cooking for parties and events
  • Food safety - barbecuing
  • How to prepare and cook a turkey
  • Keeping your kitchen clean
  • Preparing food safely
  • Preparing poultry
  • Preventing the spread of germs
  • Shopping and food safety
  • Storing food safely
  • Storing food safely - 'use by' and 'best before' dates
  • Storing food safely - potatoes

Translation help

How to translate this page

Help improve this page - send your feedback

What do you want to do?
Report a problem
Which problem did you find on this page? (Tick all that apply)

Messages

You will not receive a reply. We will consider your feedback to help improve the site.

Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

What is your question about?

What to do next

Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

Carer's Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912
Email 
dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

Call 0800 587 2750 
Email 
customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

Disability Living Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912 
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Employment and Support Allowance

Call 0800 587 1377

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

Personal Independence Payment

Call 0800 587 0932

If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) section, then for queries about:

  • Restrictions or regulations — contact the Department of Health
  • Travel advice (including self-isolation) — contact the Department of Health
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — contact the Department of Health or Public Health Agency

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk and for queries about your certificate, email covidcertni@hscni.net.

For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

For queries about the High Street Spend Local Scheme,  email HSSS.mail@economy-ni.gov.uk.

For queries about:

  • Car tax, vehicle registration and SORN
    contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea
     
  • Driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing
    contact the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), Northern Ireland

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk.

 

For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

For queries or advice about rates, email LPSCustomerTeam@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.

If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly.  We don't have access to information about you.

Related sites

  • gov.uk
  • nibusinessinfo.co.uk

Links to supporting information

  • Accessibility statement
  • Crown copyright
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS