Hygiene and Cleaning Tips

Kitchen Cleaning

The kitchen is the favourite place for many germs in the house as it is the perfect place for them to live, breed and spread in. If food is not cooked, stored and handled properly, germs can be spread and people can quickly become ill.

To ensure you keep your kitchen hygienically clean, follow these golden rules:

• Have separate chopping boards for raw meats and other foods, making them easier to clean.
• Ensure you clean chopping boards after use.
• Wash hands thoroughly as soon as you have handled raw meat, to prevent the spread of germs.
• Clean work surfaces immediately after use.
• Clean cloths and dishcloths regularly on a hot wash cycle.
• Clean bins, taps and cupboard handles regularly.
• Have separate chopping boards for raw meats and other foods, making them easier to clean.
• Ensure you clean chopping boards after use.
• Wash hands thoroughly as soon as you have handled raw meat, to prevent the spread of germs.
• Clean work surfaces immediately after use.
• Clean cloths and dishcloths regularly on a hot wash cycle.
• Clean bins, taps and cupboard handles regularly.

Bathroom Cleaning

Everyone loves a sparkling bathroom; not everyone likes the cleaning bit. Focus on germ hotspots, such as flush handles and taps and clean these areas regularly.

• If someone in the home has been sick or ill  with diarrhoea, make sure you give your toilet a squirt with Bleach.
• Pour bleach down your plugholes and drains on a regular  basis – this will help prevent the build-up of residue in your pipes that can lead to blockages.
• To keep at bay mould and mildew, which can  trigger allergic reactions, use a bleach spray.
• Showers and baths need to be kept clean, so  kill any germs that have taken up residence.
• Liquid soap should be used for hand washing because a bar of soap can more easily become  a home for germs.
• Avoid sharing towels and facecloths. If  someone in the home has an infection, wash their laundry separately from  the rest of the family.

Garden Cleaning

The summer season and hot weather mean that a lot of people will have a barbecue at home. However, the warmer weather causes harmful food bacteria, such as E. Coli O157 and Salmonella, to grow more easily and can result in food poisoning.

There are simple steps you can take to ensure that you prepare food hygienically and keep your garden hygienically clean:

• Keep raw meats away from ready-to-eat foods, as raw meat can contain bacteria that are easily transferable, and which can only be destroyed by adequate cooking.
• Wash down all other food preparation boards and surfaces regularly, and then dry them thoroughly afterwards with a clean tea towel or paper towels.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling foods such as raw meat, to avoid the risk of cross-contamination.
• Be careful to keep marinades for raw and cooked meats apart, and throw away any leftover marinade if you’ve been dipping a brush in and out of it.
• Don’t forget to clean up thoroughly after a barbecue. Bleach is the only household cleaner that destroys all types of germs, so clean all surfaces, including the barbecue grill and utensils, with a Bleach Spray and rinse.
• Clean your garden furniture regularly with a Bleach Spray.

Pets

You can’t rely on pets to wash their paws every time they come into the house from the garden! And as much joy as they bring, they provide germs with an easy entrance route into a household. It’s possible to live with pets hygienically; you just need to take extra care about handwashing, and wiping down surfaces and objects which they come into contact with, as well as regularly cleaning floors.

To help keep your home hygienically clean if you have pets, follow these golden rules:

• Pets should not be allowed on food preparation surfaces and, if these surfaces do come into contact with an animal, use a Bleach Spray immediately, before starting to prepare food.
• Wipe down litter trays and cages with a Bleach Spray and change all cage bedding on a regular basis.
• Do not clean fish bowls or cages in your kitchen sink.

Handwashing

Hand washing is one of the most important ways of stopping germs spreading, as they can be transported on hands to places, surfaces and other people. When someone in the home is ill, make sure everyone washes their hands frequently using warm water and liquid soap, so they’re germ-free, and dry them thoroughly.

When to wash your hands:

• After contact with contaminated items, such as rubbish bins and cleaning cloths.
• Before preparing food.
• Before eating.
• After using the toilet or clearing up spillages.
• After handling pets or pets’ items.

How to wash your hands:

Step 1 – Apply liquid soap and rub hands together for 15-30 seconds, palm to palm.
Step 2 – Right palm over back of left hand and left hand over back of right hand.
Step 3 – Palm to palm, fingers interlaced.
Step 4 – Backs of fingers to opposite hands, palms with fingers interlocked.
Step 5 – Rotational rubbing of right thumb clasped in left palm and vice versa.
Step 6 – Rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards, with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa.