Keep your food clean

1) Wash and soak fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking.

- Remove the soiled portions of vegetables
- Cut off the base and wash away any residual soil in a basin of tap water.
- Soak the vegetables in fresh tap water for 15 minutes.
- Before cutting and cooking, rinse the vegetables again in a basin of fresh tap water. Special detergent and washes are not needed.
- For harder items like potatoes, scrub the skin gently with a brush.
- Avoid cutting and shredding fruits and vegetables too early to preserve the nutritional value as some nutrients may be lost when exposed to air.

2) Do not put raw vegetables on a plate that has previously held raw meat, poultry or seafood until it has been thoroughly washed. The juices from the raw food can contaminate the raw vegetables that you are going to eat. This is known as cross-contamination.

3) Clean raw meat and seafood before storing or cooking to remove dirt and other contaminants.

4) Place raw food in tightly-wrapped plastic bags or covered containers in the refrigerator to prevent raw food juices from dripping onto other food.

5) Wash and dry utensils – including chopping boards and knives – and surfaces thoroughly before and after preparing raw meat, poultry and seafood. It is best to use separate cutting boards and utensils for raw and cooked food. If you only have one cutting board, always wash it thoroughly with soap and hot water between uses.