What is safe food?

Safe foods are foods that are free from contamination. Safe food handling is important to prevent food poisoning.

Key facts

• Most people carry food poisoning bacteria at one time or another
• Food poisoning bacteria are found in human’s nostril, mouth, hands, intestine and infected wound/cuts
• Food poisoning bacteria can be spread by persons handling food through sneezing, coughing onto the food and direct contact with food
• Many food poisoning outbreak arise from contamination during food preparation by persons handling food

What should I do to ensure safe food handling?

You should:

• Maintain good personal hygiene
• Wash hands properly especially:
  • After going to toilet
  • After handling food waste
  • After eating, smoking or blowing the nose
  • After handling raw and before handling cooked food
• Keep fingernails clean and short at all time
• Wear clean clothes/attire and head cover
• Cover wound/cut with waterproof dressing
• Remove all jewelery including watches, rings, and bracelets before preparing food
• Practice good habits when handling food
• Use spoon, fork or tong to handle cooked food
• Use separate cloth/towel for wiping hands, table and utensil
• Use separate chopping board for raw and cooked food

You should not:

• Spit, clean your nose or ears during food preparation
• Eat, smoke or chew chewing gum or betel leave during food preparation
• Cough or sneeze onto the food
• Touch the inner surface of plates, cup and glasses when serving food.
• Lick fingers while handling food
• Scratch your head while handling food
• Blow into plastic bags, wrapper of packages used for food or drink
• Taste food with fingers or unwashed spoon
• Use bare hands to handle cooked food
• Use printed material (newspaper) for food packaging
• Use broken, cracked or defective equipment or crockery to serve food