Hygienic ways of handling food

Wise Chukwudi Letsa Health Apr - 04 - 2014 , 08:34

Food hygiene is a subject that enjoys very little attention in a resource limited society such as sub-Saharan Africa.

Most of the discussions would rather border around the availability of food. However, it is important to ensure the safety of whatever food, no matter how small it is that is available to us.

It is sad to note that people still suffer from food-borne illnesses such as cholera and typhoid fever in our country in these modern times. It is also very sad to note that most Ghanaians cherish hand washing after meals with very well-scented soaps but may eat that food by washing their hands in ordinary water without soap.

This does not only happen at home but even at the chop bars, restaurants, etc.

There is the need for us to maintain good food hygiene anytime we deal with food or food ingredients. This will help us make food safe from germs and micro-organisms that end up giving us diseases after eating.

Let's study the following ways to maintain good food hygiene;

Food ingredients

Raw food ingredients picked from the farm or bought from the market should be washed very well. Remove all the soil debris that are usually left on these ingredients and food items.

Wash all vegetables such as okro, tomato, carrot, lettuce and kontomire very well. It is a known practice to wash these vegetables in salt solution or in vinegar but I strongly propose that they should rather be washed in light soapy water.

Just drop a small amount of liquid soap in water for this washing. After that, rinse them in lots of water. You can then cook them or store them for use later.

This is a better choice in a country where more and more people are dying due to high blood pressure. Washing in salt solution only leaves more salt on these vegetables, thus increasing the amount of salt/sodium in the food the vegetables are used to cook.

Prepared foods

Wash your hands with soap under running water before eating your food. Wash the hand well, do not just show the hand to the soap and water. It is best to wash both hands, letting the left wash the right well and vice versa.

Washing hands in a bowl with soap and water may not do the job well especially if two or three people have to share that bowl. Best practice is to wash your hand under running water. It does not necessarily have to be under a tap though, because your taps may not be flowing all the time.

You can fetch the water in a cup or a bowl and pour it on your hands. Better still, someone can pour it on your hands.

Plates, spoons and cups that are used to serve food also should be washed well. Do not just pick them from the shelves or stands and use straight away, wash them first.

Ready to eat foods

Foods that do not require any form of cooking before eating should be handled with care. Fruits must be washed well before storage and consumption.

Hands should be washed before touching and eating fruits as well. They need to be stored well and eaten whole all the time. If a portion of the fruit shows a sign of spoilage, it becomes dangerous to even eat the portion of the fruit which looks normal.

It is very common to see people eating roast plantain they buy from the roadside without cleaning their hands. This can be very dangerous.

Hand sanitisers are believed to kill germs. Keeping a small bottle in your bag and using it to clean the hand before eating the roast plantain, for example, can only be a plus.

Mind you, the hand sanitisers do not deal with germs as hand washing with soap and water would.

Teach children some food hygiene as well

First of all, anyone who feeds children should have their hands washed well. When the child starts growing, holding and touching things, they need to be observed well. Prevent them from picking things to eat from the floor.

They need to be made to practice correct hand washing at home and at school. Before the hand touches food, it must be washed with soap.

Children might think that rubbing their hands off in their dress cleans the hands well for food. A lot of teaching and correction need to go into helping them out.

Keeping food in the fridge

It is not a good idea to store food in the fridge for a very long period. Food kept in the refrigerator also spoils, just that the cold environment slows down the rate of spoilage. It even becomes worse when there is no steady supply of electricity in most homes these days.

Those people also put their refrigerator off for economic reasons. Anytime the refrigerator goes off, your soup or stew in the fridge risks contamination.

Some of the micro-organisms will start growing in the stew, thus spoilage sets in and your risk of being poisoned increases.

The advice is this: do not keep any food in the fridge for too long. In fact, keep food in the fridge just for a few days to a week.

The writer of this article is a Dietician at Trust Hospital & Clinics. He is also the Author of “Your Diet & Your Health Magazine”.