Cross Contamination

Cross-contamination occurs when bacteria spreads between food, surfaces and equipment. This commonly happens when:

• Raw food touches or drips onto other food.
• Raw food touches or drips onto equipment or surfaces.
• People come into direct contact with raw food with their hands.

Some examples are: Placing raw meat above a cake in a fridge and it dripping onto the cake below – bacteria will transfer from the meat to the cake. Cutting raw meat on a chopping board will allow bacteria to transfer from the meat to the board and knife. If the same board and knife is then used without washing, to chop a tomato then the bacteria will spread from the board and knife to the tomato. The causes cross contamination.

If you touch raw food and forget to wash your hands properly you can spread bacteria to other things you touch.
You can prevent bacteria from spreading by avoiding cross contamination.

What you need to do

• Separately store raw and ready-to-eat foods.
• Clean surfaces and equipment thoroughly before starting food preparation and after they have been used with raw food.
• Always wash your hands thoroughly after contact with raw food.

How to check

• Supervise all cleaning and food handling.
• Check that raw and ready-to-eat foods are stored separately and kept apart when prepared and displayed at the same time.
• Ensure that your staff knows how to prevent cross-contamination.