Ingredients

How safe are your kitchen habits? The answer just might surprise you!

Today I want to share some commonsense kitchen safety wisdom because, even though experience might be the best teacher, there's no reason to have to learn the hard way. And if you've ever had a food-borne illness, you'll never make the mistake of slacking off on this tip again!

One of the most important tips is so obvious that we often forget to do it: the simple task of washing our hands. It's top priority! Keep a liquid soap dispenser handy; it's even better than bar soap because it's handier.

Should it be antibacterial soap or not? There have been a lot of studies questioning the benefits of one over the other. In fact, the FDA is looking into whether the overuse of antibacterial soap might cause bacteria to become more resistant - at this point, nothings confirmed - so the choice is still ours! Either way, suds up in warm water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food, especially raw meats and fish.

For hand drying, use a paper towel, because cloth towels can harbor bacteria.

And even though you've heard this before, think about it - our hands touch everything in the kitchen. In the blink of an eye we can spread food-borne bacteria to our fridge, stove, sink faucets, counter tops, dish cloths and more. Then all we need to do is touch them and our food, and when we eat that food the results could be very unpleasant for us!