Common Kitchen Practices Making Us Sick

Every year, thousands of us fall sick from food poisoning because of how we have handled food. Louise Scodie and Louise Wates look at common ways in which we are going wrong

- Louise Scodie & Louise Wates

There’s an old saying that goes, we have to eat a peck of dirt before we die. These days, it’s taken to mean that we need to get dirty to build a strong immune system; something that goes hand-in-hand with the view that being ‘too clean’ has depleted our gut microbes and compromised our immune system’s ability to deal with disease.

But embracing dirt doesn’t mean that we should be careless when cooking. If you don’t already take care in the kitchen, prepare to change your ways.

Bacteria

Bacteria such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli (E. coli) are common causes of food poisoning, with Campylobacter responsible for more than 280,000 cases in the UK every year.1 Usually we get infected through food that hasn’t been stored or cooked properly, or through cross-contamination via hands, preparation surfaces and kitchen utensils.

Bacteria multiply through binary fission; meaning they grow and then split in half to reproduce. This simple process of repeated growth and division makes it possible for bacteria colonies to grow very quickly: for example, given the right conditions, 1,000 germs can grow to 1m in under two hours.² And the bigger the number, the bigger the chance of contracting food poisoning.

Studies have found, however, that many of us are unwittingly encouraging harmful bacteria to thrive by making simple mistakes in the kitchen.

Keep cool

In the UK, the maximum temperature recommended for fridges is 5C (The US FDA advises at or below 4C), but a recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) survey2 found that only 48 per cent of people questioned knew this. Low temperatures won’t kill bacteria, but will slow down the speed at which they multiply. The recommendation for 5C is specifically set because of Listeria, which grows nearly twice as fast at 8C than at 5C.³