CHOPPING BOARDS

Preventing Cross Contamination on Chopping Boards

Someone who works with food knows how important it is for everything to be clean and to use
the proper tools. When handling foods, it is essential that it is done safely to prevent bad
bacteria from one food contaminating another food. The prime reason this is usually because of
cross contamination that occurs on a cutting board. Those that don’t work with food may not
realize that a separate board needs to be used for each type of food to keep it safe.
 
A different chopping board is needed for each type of food that is used. Raw meat cannot be cut
on the same board as cooked meat and vegetables cannot be cut on the same board as raw
poultry. This is a safely and health hazard and using colour-coded boards will help you keep
track of which food is cut on which board. This cuts down the chance of contaminating one food
with the bad bacteria of another.
Connecting colours to a certain type of food is an easy and simple process to follow and creates
a system that is easy to remember.
 
Every colour is already assigned a certain food type, making it easy for workers in a restaurant
to recall which board to use. For home use, you could assign your own food types to colours as
long as you bear in mind that you need to note this so you don’t forget.
 
What are the colours?
These boards come in six colours: white, yellow, blue, red, tan, and green. Each colour is
assigned a different food type: raw fish and seafood, raw poultry, dairy, raw meat, cooked meat,
and fruits and vegetables. There are colour charts available to place on the wall so that you
have an easy reference for each colour. Overtime, the more you use them the easier it will be to
recall which one to use.
 
So how do you remember what colour chopping board to use?
BLUE - Whenever you are preparing raw fish or seafood, the colour you would choose is blue.
Blue is the colour of the sea and a perfect way to remember that the blue sea and fish go
together.
 
YELLOW - For cutting raw poultry like chicken and turkey, you would use a yellow board. Yellow
is the colour of baby chicks and ducks and is easily associated with poultry.
 
RED - For preparing raw meats the board that you would use is coloured red. When it comes to
food, the majority of meats used are red like beef so it is easy to associate that food and the
colour together.
 
TAN - When the meat is cooked and needs cutting, tan is the board to use. A good tasting and
well prepared meat is always browned to seal in its juices and flavours, so tan is a perfect colour
choice.
 
GREEN - Working with and preparing vegetables and fruits should be done using a green
board. To help remember that, think of green as freshness and the colour of salad and fresh
vegetables.
 
WHITE - Dairy products use a board that seems to be an obvious choice, white. This is the
easiest one to keep in mind as dairy products are made from milk, and milk is white.
 
A colour-coded cutting board in the kitchen is one way to prevent cross contamination and
promote safe handling of foods. The colours assigned to each board make it easy to remember
and select the proper board each time you are in the kitchen.
 
Don’t forget that you need to use clean and separate knives and utensils for each food also.
Since these cutting boards are made of laminated plastic, it makes them easier to clean and
sanitize.