Most foods have germs in them. This can include bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites.
Usually there’s only a small amount of germs or they’re very slow growing so eating the food is safe.
Some foods have germs that grow in large amounts or too fast. Safe food handling and preparation lowers the risk of the germs growing too much or too fast so you don’t end up with food poisoning.
Cross contamination is when germs are transferred from one surface to another. For example, if you’re cutting raw meat on a cutting board and then pick up vegetables or touch the fridge door, you could transfer the germs on your hands to the other surfaces you touch.
Foods that carry the highest risk for food poisoning are raw meat and raw eggs.
Some ways to reduce your risk are to:
wash your hands before you start working with food
wash your hands again when you finish preparing one kind of food
scrub fruits and vegetables under running water
use separate cutting boards and different utensils for each food (Some people colour code their cutting boards or utensils.)