You should always practise good food hygiene when preparing your baby’s meals. Here are some tips to keep it free from contamination.

Wash your hands. This is basic but important advice. Remember to use warm water and soap, scrub for at least 20 seconds, and dry your hands with a clean towel.

Wash utensils and wipe down surfaces. Anything your baby’s food touches should be clean. Wash cutting boards, knives, spoons, bowls, and anything else you use to prepare food with hot water and antiseptic washing-up liquid. If you can, use separate tools for raw meat and other bacteria-prone foods.

Cook everything through.Don’t serve your baby undercooked food. Use recommended cooking times and temperatures and a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of fish and meat to ensure they are properly cooked.

Put leftovers in the fridge right away. Refrigerate leftover food promptly to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. Cool food to room temperature before putting it in the fridge. Your fridge should be set to the proper temperature (below 40°F or 4°C) to ensure that food stays fresh and safe to eat.

Avoid cross-contamination. Cross-contamination occurs when harmful bacteria from one food item spreads to another. This can happen when you use the same cutting board or utensils for raw meat and then use them to prepare other foods. To avoid cross-contamination, use separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meat and other foods. Wash your hands and surfaces thoroughly after handling raw meat.

Follow safe food handling guidelines. In addition to the guidelines mentioned above, there are a few other safe food handling guidelines that you should follow when preparing food for your baby:

Don't use expired or spoiled food.
Avoid giving your baby unpasteurised milk or juice.
Use only pasteurised eggs in recipes that call for raw or undercooked eggs.
Avoid giving your baby honey before the age of one, as it can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism in infants.

What are some food hygiene tips for feeding my baby?

From Unii’s Baby Nutrition Journey, we offer tips on proper hygiene and food handling.