Tips for Preventing Cross-Contamination in a Commercial Kitchen

Food safety is one of the most important aspects of running a commercial kitchen. From proper food preparation procedures to thorough cookware cleaning tasks, the majority of your day will consist of safety measures to ensure the food you serve is safe to consume. One of the most important food safety practices to follow is the prevention of cross-contamination. 

Cross-contamination is the spread of potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, chemicals or allergens to food through improper handling. There are many ways in which cross-contamination can occur—but thankfully there are also many ways to prevent it. We’ve laid out several helpful tips on preventing cross-contamination within your commercial kitchen to keep customers and staff safe. While this won’t be a thoroughly comprehensive guide, we will touch upon important and common ways to avoid cross-contamination. Please refer to state and government guidelines and training for full details.

How to Prevent Cross-Contamination

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there are four principles to keep in mind while working to avoid cross-contamination:

• Clean
• Separate
• Cook
• Chill

While these may look like quite obvious rules for preventing cross-contamination, they are extremely important. Let’s break them down to understand the full scope of their importance:

Cleaning

The first step before food prep is to make sure you and the environment you’re in are clean. Before and after handling food, make sure you follow proper cleaning procedures like:

• Washing your hands for 20 seconds in the designated handwashing sink
• Cleaning and sanitize cutting boards, utensils and equipment that will be used
• Wiping down countertops and properly sanitize all food-contact surfaces
• Preparing fresh ingredients like fruits and vegetables by washing and rinsing in designated food-safe areas

Once everything is properly clean and sanitary, you can then begin to prep your food. Don‘t forget to wash utensils, countertops and hands afterwards.

Separate

Separating various types of food when preparing, storing and cooking are crucial to avoiding cross-contamination. Some common ways to separate include:

• Keep raw meat, fish and poultry separate from other food
• Separate raw meat, fish and poultry from ready-to-eat foods when placing them in cold storage
• Ensure that common allergens like gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, fish and shellfish are contained properly and are kept away from other food items during preparation and cooking
• Keep all food items away from cleaning chemicals and supplies
• Never let ready-to-eat foods come into contact with surfaces that have had raw meat, fish or poultry on them

Cook

Cooking and heating food can help prevent cross-contamination. For this step, we want to make sure that:

• Food is cooked to the appropriate internal temperature
• Avoid the “danger zone” by checking the internal temperature with designated food thermometers

Chill

Before, during and after the food preparation steps, it’s important to keep all ingredients refrigerated or frozen at appropriate temperatures. This helps prevent harmful bacteria from rapidly growing or spreading. When storing chilled food items, make sure to:

• Store food at temperatures between 40° F to 0° F (4° C to -18° C)
• Do not leave perishable items out for longer than 1-2 hours
• Avoid letting food thaw on the countertop at room temperature
• Only take out refrigerated foods when you’re ready to cook them

How to Prevent Cross-Contamination When Storing Food

As outlined above, cross-contamination can be prevented by storing food correctly. Whether it's in cold storage or dry storage, though, proper storage practices are essential for keeping food safe to consume. Here are some tips to keep in mind for safe storage.

• Keep storage environment well-maintained—Store all food items away from heat-generating sources and in their own environment-controlled spaces. As previously mentioned, make sure the temperature for cold storage is maintained at 40⁰ F - 0° F (4° C to -18° C), while dry storage should be between 50⁰ - 70⁰ F (10⁰ - 21⁰ C with a 60% or lower humidity level. This will help prevent bacteria and mold from forming.
• Cover food items—All food items that are being stored should have a covering on them. Whether it’s a lid or plastic wrap, make sure everything is covered and sealed.
• Store food in containers designated for food—You should never reuse old chemical or cleaning containers to store food products within.
• Store food in designated food-storage spaces—It’s important to keep food items and non-food items as far away from one another to prevent chemical cross-contamination. All janitorial items should be kept within their own space or closet.
• Store food correctly within storage spaces—Storing food in their own dedicated areas is also vital for avoiding cross-contamination. According to ServSafe, food should be stored in a certain order if separation isn’t possible. They outline that the storage order from top-shelf to bottom shelf be: ready-to-eat food; seafood; whole cuts of beef and pork; ground meat and ground fish; whole and ground poultry.

How to Prevent Cross-Contamination When Serving Food

It’s just as important for front-of-house staff to practice cross-contamination prevention measures as it is for back-of-house staff. When training your staff, make sure they follow these steps to avoid any potential for cross-contamination:

• Never use bare hands to touch food—Even if hands are thoroughly washed, cross-contamination can still occur if bare hands are used. Make sure to use tongs, disposable food-safe gloves or deli sheets to handle food.
• Do not handle glassware, plateware or flatware at the food contact surface—Always hold and serve food and beverage away from these food or customer contact surfaces. 
• Use designated utensils while handling different foods—Keep all serving utensils separate from other food items like meats, ready-to-eat foods, vegetables, and so on.
• Never stack glasses or dishes to carry—Always carry dishes or glassware in designated racks or trays.
• Never use hands or glassware to scoop out ice—Not only is this a cross-contamination hazard, but scooping ice with a glass can cause the glass to chip within the ice and pose the risk of injury.
• Make sure customers use clean dishes each time they serve themselves—If you are a self-service or quick-service restaurant, ensure that all customers use clean dishes every time they get their own food.
• Inform back-of-house staff of allergens—If a customer has informed front-of-house staff of a food allergy, make sure that’s communicated to back-of-house staff to avoid food-to-food cross-contamination.

More Food Safety & Hygiene Tips

No matter if you’re head chef or running plates, it’s important to know best food safety practices. Understanding common safety mistakes, benefits of certification and learning best hygiene practices will provide safe food production and storage. To ensure you’re protecting your staff and customers from food-borne illnesses, check out our article on Food Safety and Hygiene in a Commercial Kitchen.