Food hygiene: the 4 Cs
Works in the UK and the US. This version uses UK words and measures (hob, grams, gas marks); the US version uses stove, cups and °F. · US version of this page
Keep food safe: clean hands and surfaces, keep raw and ready-to-eat food apart, cook it properly and keep it cold.
The 4 Cs
Food hygiene stops bacteria from making people ill. Remember the 4 Cs:
- Cleaning – wash your hands for 20 seconds, wipe surfaces and wash equipment.
- Cooking – cook food until it is steaming hot all the way through.
- Chilling – keep cold food in the fridge at 5 °C or below.
- Cross-contamination – keep raw meat away from food that is ready to eat, and use separate chopping boards.
Lesson and quiz
Step by step: a quick safety check, questions marked by Classfern, timers for each cooking step, then an honest look at how it went – a teacher or parent judges the cooking, and learners rate their own work. Photos of the finished dish stay at home.
Use the code your teacher gave you – never your name. Progress is kept on this device.
Put it into practice
- Rainbow fruit cupsA no-cook pudding of fruit in rainbow layers with yoghurt – perfect for first knife skills.
- Overnight oatsA no-cook breakfast you make the night before: weigh, measure, grate and mix.
- Fresh tomato salsaA bright, no-cook dip that teaches dicing, the bridge hold and the claw grip.
- HummusA smooth chickpea dip – and a real example of an allergen (sesame in tahini).