More than half of Irish people do not prepare food safely, new research published today has found.
In a study carried out last April for Safefood, the Food Safety Promotion Board, researchers at University College Dublin and the University of Ulster observed consumers preparing food in a test kitchen.
52 per cent of those who took part used a chopping board that had previously been used to chop raw meat without washing it first. Of those that did wash the chopping board, 66 per cent did not wash it adequately with hot soapy water.
More than a third of the participants still had bacteria from raw meat on their hands when they left the kitchen.
Approximately 66 per cent of participants did not check to make sure beef burgers were cooked thoroughly by cutting into the meat. A quarter of the burgers were found to be insufficiently cooked.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Thomas Quigley, a director at Safefood, stressed the dangers of cross contamination when preparing a meal.
"The spread of dangerous bacteria such as E. coli and Campylobacter through cross contamination is extremely common. It is important that different cooking utensils and clean or separate chopping boards are used for raw and ready-to-eat foods to prevent the spread of dangerous bacteria," he said.
"Meat that has been minced, skewered or rolled such as burgers, sausages and kebabs should be cooked thoroughly and never served rare or pink in the middle," he added.
Further food safety advice is available from the safefood website, www.safefood.eu.