Germs in the kitchen

By Rubi and Charlotte

Introduction

Have you ever seen that furry green stuff on your kitchen bench or sink? Maybe you haven’t seen it in your home but, you may have seen it in a restaurant? Eeew! That is mould, a type of fungi which is a category of microorganism. Seeing that at home, in your kitchen (a domestic kitchen) is totally your fault but, in a restaurant, (which is a commercial kitchen) if you saw that, someone hadn't been paying attention to the rules. We hope to tell you about the differences of those two types of kitchens, the danger of microorganisms in any kitchen, how to be safe and the things that can happen if you aren’t careful.

Commercial kitchen Domestic kitchen

Micro-organisms

Microorganisms are tiny microscopic organisms that can only be seen with a very strong microscope. There are different types of microorganisms that do different things. Fungi ,for example, is something like mould, mushrooms and toadstools. Bacteria, however, are one celled circle, rod shaped or spiral microorganisms that cause food poisoning or sore throats.

Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is not actual poison. It doesn’t kill you like the usual poison that they use in movies. Food poisoning is the result of bacteria multiplying. That happens when you don’t store food in the right conditions, don’t cook food correctly or check use by dates on food. To prevent this happening, read the use by dates and be aware of when things go off, refrigerate meats, dairy products and leftovers as well as use recipes or instructions on the back of the box your food came in to cook food.

Cuts and sickness safety

If you aren't paying attention to what you are doing when you are cutting food you might just cut yourself. You might get blood on the food that your cooking and if you are ill the person that then eats the food could catch your disease. There is also a lot of food in the kitchen and if you have a cold or a cough and you decide to cook there is an almost 100% chance that you get your coughs onto the food. To make sure this doesn’t happen you can cough into an elbow or a tissue. You can be careful when cutting or just let yourself take a break from making dinner that night.

Mould

Mould is one of the most common things that you get in every kitchen. Mould on off food, mould on the kitchen bench mould everywhere. Mould is a type of Fungi and it tends to grow in dark, wet and cold places. If you breathe in the mould spores you can become very, VERY sick.

A domestic kitchen

A domestic kitchen (like I said before) is a kitchen in your home. It is the kitchen that you might cook pasta, stir-fry's or curries. You can choose your own rules in your own kitchen, no one can tell you how to manage it. If you start a fire that burns down the place if you have mould everywhere or you never check use by dates it is your fault. If you want a proper maintenance kitchen you have to do it yourself. In a commercial kitchen it is a different story…

A commercial kitchen

A commercial kitchen is totally different. In a commercial kitchen you have an inspector (someone who checks out the places maintenance) that just pops in all the time when you aren't excepting it to see what’s going on. If your restaurant is not in the right conditions they have the rights to shut you down! If you as an employee do the wrong thing your boss is likely to fire you. Usually, they don’t shut you down but if your kitchen is not clean enough a $100 fine must be paid. In a domestic kitchen, like I said before, they don’t have a right to do anything to you.

The health laws

In Australia there are health laws that are there to make sure that restaurants or any commercial kitchen is in a fare condition. You are given them when you apply for jobs and you have to agree to them. If after that you disobey the laws then you are fired. Search health law Australia on Google to find out more.

Interview with Dr Madman

Find-a-word

BibliographyTerms and Conditions Department of healthWays to prevent kitchen fires- for dummies(Book) Horrible Histories SickPuzzle makerGoogle imagesThe children's universityMy brain

Thankyou for listening!