Cross-contamination - how to avoid it

Food hygiene becomes particularly important in a kitchen that is not dedicated to vegan food production.

If a spoon is taken from meat curry and used to serve vegetable curry or if they are stored side by side so the meat curry splashes into the vegan curry it not only stops being vegetarian and vegan but stops being Kosher and Halal. It may be in breach of the law.

Preparation

To avoid cross-contamination make sure you take the following steps:

• Wash and dry your hands before handling vegan food.
• If possible dedicate an appropriate number of work surfaces to the preparation of vegan foods; otherwise clean work surfaces thoroughly before preparing vegan food.
• Use colour-coded chopping boards, equipment and utensils for preparing and serving vegan foods.
• Ensure that grills, griddles and other equipment used for the preparation of non-vegan foods are thoroughly cleaned before vegan food is prepared.
• Fry vegan food in clean oil that has not previously been used to cook animal products.
• Store vegan foods at the top of the fridge so that there is no risk of drips or other contamination from non-vegan food.