You are more likely to contract food poisoning in your own home than from a restaurant,  that's slightly surprising, but it's true because there are so many ways that bacteria can contaminate food that we are about to eat.  It's vital to store food properly.  Here are some pointers and some reasons why!

• Raw meat should be stored separately to food that's ready to eat (cheese, salad, fruit).  You don't need a separate fridge, but you do need to keep them apart.  Keep raw met at the bottom of the fridge.
• Make sure all foods are covered.
• If you are defrosting raw food, make sure none of the water or defrosted liquid gets onto any of the other foods. Why? Because there are bacteria on raw foods that could contaminate foods you are about to eat.
• Always use a clean copping board and knife when cutting raw food and cooked food. Why?  Bacteria can even spread from the knife or chopping board onto other foods.
• Wash all fruit and vegetables before you eat them. Why?  Because they may have harmful bacteria on them and if you don't wash them you'll eat them too!

What's the difference between 'sell by', 'use by' and 'best before' dates?

Sell by - this is the date by which the shop need to sell the goods.  There may well be a few days after this date that the food will be fine to eat.

Use by - this is the date by which the food must have been consumed - or throw it away!  If you were a restaurant and you served food after the "use by" date it would be against the law.

Best before - this is all about quality.  The food would be fine to eat after the sell by date, but it will be past its best.

Other things to remember:

1. Keep pets away from food preparation areas.
2. Keep equipment in good condition and replace splitting wooden spoons, cracked chopping boards etc.
3. Steralise surfaces and equipment periodically.
4. Keep you kitchen clean and sweep the floor often to prevent pests.
5. Keep raw food covered in the fridge and when getting ready to cook.

Food hygiene is especially important if you have children in your home, both to practice and to teach them about so that they grow up understanding how to prepare food safely.

Research has found that people are more likely to wash their hands after going to the toilet, if they think that someone else is watching them - if no one is looking, they'll not bother!  The research was carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  They set up sensors in toilets and were able to study the behaviour of 250,000 people.  They found that less than one third of men washed with hands with soap but nearly two thirds of women did.

Why bother washing your hands? As you go through the day touching surfaces and objects, germs accumulate on your hands.  You can infect yourself by touching your own eyes, nose or mouth.  Washing your hands with soap can minimise the spread of bacteria.

When to wash your hands:

1. Before preparing food.
2. Before eating.
3. Before and after treating wounds or giving medicine. A
4. After using the toilet.
5. After changing a baby's diaper/nappy.
6. After touching animals.
7. After emptying the rubbish or touching  something that could be contaminated like muddy shoes.
8. PLUS, wash them whenever they look dirty!

Here are the steps required to give them a thorough wash and reduce risk of infection from bacteria:-

1. Wet hands with running water.
2. Apply anti-bacterial  liquid soap.
3. Lather and rub hands for 15 seconds.
4. Rinse and dry well.

Encourage little ones to wash frequently too.  Show them what to do and lead by example by always washing your hands too!  It will become second nature and you could be doing them a huge favour when it comes to avoiding contagious illnesses!

Hand washing is an important hygiene step both for your children, but also for you as a responsible parent.  From the moment you have your baby, you must take extra care to ensure that you don't pass on infections unnecessarily, or indeed let anyone else pass on germs.  There are lots of germs that can be passed from touch including common cold, infectious diarrhea and flu, including the strains of swine flu circulating the world at the moment.

Don't be embarrassed if you want friends and family to wash their hands before handling your baby - it may seem trivial but there's nothing silly about such a request, and no one could consider it rude if they really think through the consequences.  If you are embarrassed about asking, just say that your health visitor or paediatrician insists on this level of hygiene.

Always wash your hands after changing your baby, and as children grow older and go to the toilet themselves, make sure that they always wash their hands.  Lead by example and make sure that you always wash your own hands after going to the toilet, and your children will follow suit.  Make sure that your children can reach the sink - buy them a plastic step so that they can reach the bowl and the taps, and buy them kids' soap in a squeezy dispenser - this will make hand washing more fun and encourage them in the pursuit of cleanliness!