• Use a fridge thermometer to check the temperature of your fridge regularly. The coldest part of the fridge should be between 0°C and 5°C (32°F and 41°F).
• You could use a probe thermometer to check if food being kept hot or cold before serving is at a safe temperature. Make sure you always clean the thermometer thoroughly every time you use it, before and after putting it in the food.
• Remember to keep raw food below ready-to-eat food in the fridge. Or use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat food, if possible.
• An easy way to prevent cross-contamination is to use different chopping boards and different knives for raw and ready-to-eat food. Try using one colour for chopping boards and knives used with raw food and another colour for those used with ready-to-eat food.
• You can make food cool more quickly by dividing it into smaller amounts and placing it in shallow dishes.
• Before selecting equipment or premises consult your local environmental health officers, who can give you helpful advice.
• Put signs above washbasins and sinks in food areas, to indicate what they should be used for - washing hands, cleaning, washing food - and make sure that staff only use basins/sinks for their intended purpose.

Premises should be designed in a way that allows you to keep the place clean and work hygienically.

Make sure that doors and external windows keep out pests, such as flies and rats. Careful storage of waste is also important to avoid attracting pests.

You should:

• not allow food or other waste to gather in food areas
• keep the storage area clean
• arrange for rubbish to be removed regularly

Food poisoning occurs when people eat food that has been contaminated with harmful germs (particularly bacteria and viruses) or toxins (poisonous substances).

Bacteria need warmth and moisture to grow. They reproduce by dividing themselves, so one bacterium becomes two and then two become four and so on. In the right conditions one bacterium could become several million in 8 hours and thousands of millions in 12 hours.

This means that if a food is contaminated with a small number of bacteria and you leave it out of the fridge overnight it could be seriously contaminated by the next day. Then just one mouthful could make someone ill. If you put food in the fridge it will stop bacteria from multiplying.