How to Record an E. coli Control Video for Your Food Safety Management System

Step 1: Set the scene and context

E. coli is an extremely dangerous organism. Infection can cause long-term life-changing illness or even death. This is not a minor food safety issue—it's one of the most serious risks in food handling. E. coli O157 and other shiga toxin-producing strains can cause haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), leading to kidney failure, particularly in children. Some victims never fully recover.

E. coli is of such concern that local authority Environmental Health Officers will inspect E. coli control measures very specifically. If suitable and sufficient control measures are found to be lacking, they are very likely to serve an emergency hygiene prohibition notice, which may lead to immediate closure of your business. This is one of the few areas where enforcement officers will act without warning.

Your team needs to understand that E. coli control is non-negotiable. The controls you implement for E. coli are among the most important food safety measures in your entire operation. Getting this wrong can kill customers and close your business.

Where to film this video:

This video requires a walk-through of your kitchen and preparation areas. You'll need to show your raw preparation areas (or designated spaces), sinks, dishwasher, and any complex equipment like slicers or mincers. Plan your route to demonstrate the flow from raw to ready-to-eat and show how separation is maintained at each stage.

What to have ready:

• Signage for raw preparation areas (if you have designated areas)
• Colour-coded equipment (boards, knives, utensils)
• Dishwasher temperature records showing rinse at 82°C minimum
• Examples of complex equipment (slicer, vacuum packer, mincer)
• Dedicated cloths and sanitisers for raw areas
• Disposable gloves and aprons
• Your E. coli control procedures documentation

Start your video by explaining:

"This video covers E. coli control—one of the most critical food safety topics in our operation. E. coli is an extremely dangerous organism that can cause life-changing illness or death. Environmental Health Officers specifically inspect for E. coli controls, and inadequate measures can result in immediate closure of our business. I'm going to explain where E. coli comes from, how it spreads through cross-contamination, and the specific controls we must maintain to prevent it reaching ready-to-eat foods. These procedures must be followed exactly—there is no margin for error with E. coli."

Step 2: Plan what to record versus what to write down

E. coli control training combines understanding why the organism is dangerous with specific practical procedures for separation and disinfection. Your team needs to see these procedures demonstrated in your actual kitchen environment.

Best for video (on camera):

• Explaining why E. coli is so dangerous and where it's found
• Walking through your raw preparation areas and showing designated zones
• Demonstrating the separation between raw and ready-to-eat preparation
• Showing colour-coded equipment and explaining the system
• Explaining why thermal disinfection is required and sanitiser alone is insufficient
• Demonstrating sink procedures to prevent cross-contamination
• Showing complex equipment and explaining why it cannot be shared
• The time separation method as a last resort for small kitchens

Best for supporting written text:

• Sources of E. coli contamination
• Thermal disinfection requirements
• Colour-coding system for equipment
• Sink cleaning procedures
• Complex equipment rules
• Corrective actions
• Record keeping requirements

Example written reference to include:

E. COLI CONTROL REQUIREMENTS

Sources of E. coli:
→ Animal intestines (contamination during slaughter)
→ All types of meat (especially burgers, sausages, mince)
→ Soil (vegetables and salads can carry E. coli)
→ Blood and juices from raw meat

Separation Options (in order of preference):
1. BEST: Separate room for raw food preparation
2. GOOD: Permanent designated area with signage, own cloths, sanitisers, hand wash basin
3. MINIMUM: Time separation (raw first, robust clean, then RTE)

Thermal Disinfection Requirements:
□ Equipment contacting raw food must be thermally disinfected
□ Dishwasher rinse: minimum 82°C for 15 seconds
□ Alternative: steam cleaning
□ SANITISER ALONE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE for raw food equipment

This applies to:
- Chopping boards
- Knives
- All utensils
- Any equipment contacting raw food

If thermal disinfection is not possible:
→ Must use colour-coded equipment
→ Separate equipment for raw and RTE only
→ Never mix usage

Complex Equipment Rules:
□ Meat slicers, mincers, vacuum packers = COOKED FOODS ONLY
□ Must be sanitised/disinfected before AND after each use
□ If raw/undercooked products will contact equipment = SEPARATE EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
□ Raw and RTE must NEVER use same complex equipment
□ Sign equipment clearly indicating its use

Sink Procedures:
□ Vegetable prep sinks = that purpose only (ideal)
□ Clean and disinfect sinks frequently
□ Include taps and splashbacks in cleaning
□ Use bowls/colanders to prevent direct sink contact where risk exists

Corrective Actions:
→ RTE food contaminated with soil, blood, or raw food contact = DISCARD
→ Dishwasher breakdown = resort to separate equipment until repaired
→ Staff non-compliance = retrain and increase supervision

Step 3: Core rules and requirements

Cover the essential knowledge about E. coli—where it comes from, why it's dangerous, and the specific controls required.

Why E. coli is so dangerous:

Begin with the severity: "E. coli is one of the most dangerous organisms you'll encounter in food handling. Some strains, particularly E. coli O157, produce toxins that can cause severe illness. Symptoms go far beyond normal food poisoning—victims can develop haemolytic uraemic syndrome, which attacks the kidneys and can cause permanent damage or death. Children are particularly vulnerable.

This isn't theoretical risk. E. coli outbreaks have killed people and permanently disabled others. When Environmental Health Officers inspect your kitchen, E. coli controls are one of the first things they check. If they find your controls are inadequate, they can close your business immediately under an emergency prohibition notice—no warnings, no second chances."

Where E. coli is found:

Explain the sources: "E. coli is commonly found in the intestines of animals. During slaughter and butchering, intestinal contents can contaminate meat. This means all types of meat should be considered potentially contaminated, with particular emphasis on burgers, sausages, and minced meats. These products are higher risk because the mincing process can distribute surface contamination throughout the product.

Critically, E. coli is also found in soil. This means vegetables and salads can have E. coli contamination on their surfaces. Unwashed vegetables, soil on root vegetables, even salad leaves that haven't been properly washed—all can carry E. coli. This is why we separate raw vegetables as well as raw meat from ready-to-eat foods."

The principle of separation:

Explain the core control: "The fundamental principle of E. coli control is separation—keeping raw foods completely separate from ready-to-eat foods at every stage. Raw meat, raw vegetables with soil, and anything that has contacted them must never come into contact with foods that will be served without further cooking.

This separation applies to physical space, equipment, utensils, cloths, hands, and even clothing. If something has touched raw food, it must either be separated from ready-to-eat foods or undergo thermal disinfection before any contact."

Raw preparation areas:

Cover the different options: "Best practice is that raw food should be prepared in a separate room from ready-to-eat foods wherever possible. A separate room provides the strongest physical barrier against cross-contamination.

If a separate room isn't possible due to space constraints, then a permanent raw preparation area should be designated. This area must be clearly marked with signage indicating it's for raw food only. These designated areas should have their own cloths, sanitisers, and hand wash basins if possible, to contain the risk of cross-contamination. Staff working in these areas should wear aprons—disposable or washable—to protect their work clothing. Disposable gloves may also be advisable to lower the bacterial load on hands.

In very small kitchens where even a permanent designated area isn't practical, you can allocate an area or surface for raw food preparation as a last resort. Consider the linear flow of the kitchen when doing this to minimise cross-contamination risks. This area must be subject to robust cleaning and disinfection if it's also used for ready-to-eat foods."

Time separation:

Explain this as a last resort: "If you cannot have physical separation—a separate room or permanent designated area—then time separation is the minimum acceptable control. This means: prepare raw foods first, then clean all direct and indirect surfaces thoroughly, disinfect everything, remove all utensils and equipment to the dishwasher for thermal disinfection, and only then prepare ready-to-eat foods afterwards.

Time separation requires discipline and must be followed exactly. If you start preparing salad before all the raw meat equipment has been thermally disinfected, you've broken the separation. This method is a last resort—physical separation is always safer."

Thermal disinfection requirements:

This is critical: "Equipment and utensils that come into contact with raw foods must undergo robust disinfection using heat—either steam or a dishwasher that can rinse with water at a minimum temperature of 82°C for 15 seconds. This is called thermal disinfection.

This is absolutely critical to understand: it is not acceptable to rely on the use of a sanitiser or disinfectant alone for washing items that have contacted raw food. This includes chopping boards and knives. Sanitiser alone cannot guarantee destruction of E. coli. Only thermal disinfection at 82°C provides that assurance.

If you cannot achieve thermal disinfection—if your dishwasher doesn't reach 82°C or you don't have access to steam cleaning—then you must use colour-coded equipment and use it for raw or ready-to-eat foods only. There is no middle ground."

Complex equipment rules:

Cover this specific area: "Complex equipment like meat slicers, mincers, and vacuum packers present particular challenges because they're difficult to clean thoroughly. Bacteria can harbour in crevices, blades, and mechanisms.

The rule is clear: if you use meat slicers, mincers, vacuum packers or other complex equipment, they must be sanitised and disinfected before and after every use, and they must only be used for cooked foods. These machines are for ready-to-eat products only.

If raw or undercooked products will come into contact with this type of equipment, then separate equipment must be purchased. You cannot use the same slicer for raw beef and then for cooked ham, no matter how well you clean it. Raw and ready-to-eat products must never be prepared using the same complex equipment.

Separate equipment should be signed clearly indicating its use—'Raw Only' or 'Cooked Only.' There must be no ambiguity about which equipment is for which purpose."

Sink procedures:

Explain sink contamination risks: "Sinks can be a major source of cross-contamination. Raw vegetables and salad are frequently washed in sinks, and these items may contain dirt and soil which can harbour E. coli as well as other pathogens.

Ideally, vegetable preparation sinks should be used for that purpose only and should have signage indicating this. However, many kitchens have sinks with multiple uses where raw foods and ready-to-eat foods come into close proximity—pre-rinsing washed salad, rinsing cooked rice, cooling cooked pasta under cold water.

If there's a risk of cross-contamination, appropriate utensils should be used—a bowl or colander—to avoid direct contact between ready-to-eat foods and sink surfaces.

Cleaning and disinfection of sinks must take place frequently to avoid cross-contamination. Don't forget to clean taps and splashbacks at the same time—splashback from washing raw vegetables contaminates these surfaces too."

Step 4: Demonstrate or walk through

Walk through your kitchen showing the E. coli controls in place and how they work in practice.

Raw preparation area walk-through:

Show your designated areas: "Here's our raw preparation area. You can see the signage clearly indicating this is for raw food preparation only. This area has its own cloths—look for the colour coding—and its own sanitiser bottle.

Notice the position in the kitchen. We've placed it away from ready-to-eat preparation to minimise the risk of cross-contamination during busy service. The workflow goes raw to cooked, never the other way.

When you're working in this area, you should be wearing an apron. If you need to move to another area of the kitchen, remove the apron first—don't carry contamination with you. Wash your hands thoroughly before handling anything outside this area."

For smaller kitchens without separate areas:

"In this kitchen, we don't have space for a permanently separated raw area, so we use time separation. Let me walk through the process.

First, all raw preparation happens here, at this station. While we're working with raw meat or unwashed vegetables, this entire area is considered contaminated.

When raw preparation is complete, we clean. First, remove all the equipment—boards, knives, utensils—and put them in the dishwasher for thermal disinfection. Then clean the surface with detergent to remove food residues. Then apply sanitiser and leave for the contact time. Clean the area around the station too—anywhere that might have been contaminated by splashes or contact.

Only when this cleaning is complete and the dishwasher cycle has finished can we bring clean equipment back and start ready-to-eat preparation. The key is that raw and ready-to-eat never happen at the same time in the same space."

Dishwasher demonstration:

Show your dishwasher and records: "Here's our dishwasher. This is critical equipment for E. coli control because it provides thermal disinfection.

Check the display—we need to confirm the rinse cycle reaches at least 82°C and holds for 15 seconds. Here are our temperature records showing we're consistently achieving this temperature.

Every piece of equipment that contacts raw food goes through this dishwasher before it can be used for ready-to-eat foods. Chopping boards, knives, bowls, utensils—everything. If it's touched raw, it goes through the dishwasher.

If this dishwasher breaks down, we have a problem. We cannot use sanitiser alone to clean raw food equipment and then use it for ready-to-eat foods. During a dishwasher breakdown, we must use completely separate equipment for raw and ready-to-eat—colour-coded equipment that never crosses over."

Colour-coded equipment:

Show your colour-coding system: "Here's our colour-coded equipment. Red boards and knives are for raw meat only. Green is for salad and vegetables. Blue is for fish. White is for cooked products and ready-to-eat foods.

This system provides an additional barrier against cross-contamination. Even if something goes wrong with our thermal disinfection, using dedicated equipment for each food type prevents direct cross-contamination.

The colour coding must be followed without exception. If you pick up a red board to cut cooked chicken because it's the nearest one available, you've potentially contaminated that cooked chicken with E. coli. Use the correct colour for the correct food, every time."

Complex equipment demonstration:

Show your slicers or other complex equipment: "Here's our meat slicer. This equipment is for cooked products only—you can see the sign clearly stating this. Cooked ham, cooked beef, ready-to-eat deli products—these can go through this slicer.

Raw meat must never go through this slicer. The blade, the carriage, the internal mechanisms—these cannot be cleaned thoroughly enough to guarantee removal of E. coli. If we need to slice raw meat, we would need a completely separate slicer dedicated to that purpose.

Before every use, we clean and sanitise the slicer. After every use, we clean and sanitise again. But even with this cleaning, the slicer remains 'cooked only.' The cleaning is for general hygiene—the separation is for E. coli control."

Sink demonstration:

Show your sink procedures: "Here's our prep sink. We wash vegetables here—you can see soil being removed from these carrots. This soil potentially contains E. coli.

Watch how we handle ready-to-eat products near this sink. This cooked pasta needs cooling under cold water. Rather than putting it directly in the sink where vegetables have been washed, I'm using a colander held under the tap. The pasta never touches the sink surface.

After washing raw vegetables, we clean the sink, the taps, and the splashback. All of these surfaces can be contaminated by splashing water and soil particles. This cleaning happens before any ready-to-eat product comes near the sink."

Responding to contamination:

Explain what happens when controls fail: "What happens if ready-to-eat food becomes contaminated? If ready-to-eat foods come into direct or indirect contact with raw foods—contaminated with soil, blood, meat juices—they must be discarded.

There's no recovery from E. coli contamination. You cannot wash it off, you cannot cook it out of something that should be served cold. If a salad gets splashed with raw meat juice, that salad is waste. If cooked rice is placed in a contaminated sink, that rice is waste.

The cost of discarding food is nothing compared to the cost of making a customer seriously ill with E. coli. When in doubt, throw it out."

Step 5: Common mistakes to avoid

Cover the E. coli control errors that put customers at risk.

Mistake 1: Relying on sanitiser alone for raw food equipment

"You clean a chopping board that's been used for raw chicken, spray it with sanitiser, and use it for salad. This is not acceptable. Sanitiser alone cannot guarantee destruction of E. coli. That board must go through the dishwasher at 82°C or be dedicated to raw food only. Never rely on sanitiser alone for equipment that has contacted raw food."

Mistake 2: Using complex equipment for both raw and cooked products

"You slice raw beef on the meat slicer, clean it thoroughly, then slice cooked ham. The cleaning, no matter how thorough, cannot guarantee removal of E. coli from a complex machine with blades, mechanisms, and crevices. Complex equipment must be dedicated—raw or cooked, never both. If you need to process raw products, you need separate equipment."

Mistake 3: Inadequate sink cleaning between uses

"You wash muddy vegetables in the sink, then immediately rinse cooked rice under the tap. That rice has just been exposed to potential E. coli contamination. Clean and disinfect the sink, taps, and splashback after washing raw vegetables before any ready-to-eat product comes near. Or use containers and colanders to prevent ready-to-eat foods contacting sink surfaces at all."

Mistake 4: Breaking time separation by rushing

"The lunch rush is starting. Raw prep isn't quite finished but the salads need to go out. You start making salads while raw meat is still on the other end of the bench. Time separation only works if you complete raw prep, complete cleaning and disinfection, and only then start ready-to-eat prep. Overlapping defeats the entire purpose. Plan your prep schedule to allow proper separation."

Mistake 5: Forgetting soil is a contamination source

"You're careful with raw meat but handle unwashed vegetables carelessly. Soil contains E. coli. Potatoes covered in soil, carrots with dirt, salad leaves with earth—these require the same separation controls as raw meat. Treat unwashed vegetables as contaminated until they've been properly washed."

Mistake 6: Not cleaning aprons and cloths properly

"You wear the same apron while preparing raw meat and then move to the salad station. That apron has just carried contamination across your kitchen. Aprons worn in raw preparation areas should be removed before moving to ready-to-eat areas. Cloths from raw areas must be laundered at high temperature—ideally use disposable cloths and dispose of them."

Mistake 7: Continuing service during dishwasher breakdown

"The dishwasher has stopped working. You decide to wash equipment by hand with hot water and sanitiser and carry on. This is not acceptable for equipment that has contacted raw food. During dishwasher breakdown, you must resort to using completely separate equipment for raw and ready-to-eat foods. There is no sanitiser-based substitute for thermal disinfection."

Mistake 8: Inadequate signage and unclear designation

"Your designated raw prep area isn't clearly signed. A new team member uses it to plate desserts because it was available. Clear signage removes ambiguity. 'Raw Preparation Only' signs must be visible and permanent. Equipment labels—'Raw Only' or 'Cooked Only'—must be clear. When anyone can see instantly what an area or piece of equipment is for, mistakes become less likely."

Step 6: Key takeaways

Finish your video by reinforcing the critical points about E. coli control.

"Let me recap the E. coli control rules:

Why E. coli matters: E. coli is extremely dangerous—it can cause life-changing illness or death. EHOs specifically check E. coli controls. Inadequate measures can result in immediate business closure.

Where E. coli is found: Animal intestines contaminate meat during slaughter. All meats are potentially contaminated, especially burgers, sausages, and mince. E. coli is also found in soil—unwashed vegetables and salads can carry contamination.

The principle of separation: Raw foods must never contact ready-to-eat foods. This applies to space, equipment, utensils, cloths, hands, and clothing.

Raw preparation areas: Best is a separate room. Next best is a permanent designated area with signage, own cloths, sanitisers, and hand wash basin. Minimum acceptable is time separation—raw first, full clean and disinfection, then ready-to-eat.

Thermal disinfection: Equipment contacting raw food must be thermally disinfected—dishwasher rinse at 82°C for 15 seconds minimum. Sanitiser alone is not acceptable. If you can't thermally disinfect, you must use colour-coded equipment dedicated to raw or ready-to-eat only.

Complex equipment: Meat slicers, mincers, vacuum packers must only be used for cooked foods. If raw products will contact this equipment, separate equipment must be purchased. Raw and ready-to-eat must never share complex equipment.

Sink procedures: Clean and disinfect sinks frequently, including taps and splashbacks. Use bowls or colanders to prevent ready-to-eat food contacting potentially contaminated sink surfaces.

Contamination response: If ready-to-eat food contacts soil, blood, or raw food—discard it. There is no recovery from E. coli contamination.

Dishwasher breakdown: Resort to separate equipment for raw and ready-to-eat. Do not use sanitiser as a substitute for thermal disinfection.

Staff compliance: Anyone who doesn't follow these controls must be retrained with increased supervision until competency is demonstrated.

E. coli control is non-negotiable. These controls protect customers from life-threatening illness and protect our business from closure. Follow them exactly, every time, without exception."