Shoes Feet are often an afterthought when it comes to cooking, but professionals know the importance of high quality, comfortable footwear, and if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you should too. Good quality shoes serve more than just one purpose. In addition to making sure you can stand for long periods of time without aches and pains, they can protect you from safety hazards like dropping heavy or sharp objects, or spilling hot liquids. Even if you’re only in the kitchen for a little while, you should always wear protective footwear on your feet. Choosing good shoes doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. You can find high quality shoes in a range of styles and price ranges. You should avoid buying them online unless you’ve owned them before; instead head to a uniform store and try them on. Walk around in them for 20 minutes or so and see how they feel on your feet. If you aren’t keen on the idea of wearing shoes in the house, get a pair of easy to slip on clogs and store them near or in the kitchen so that you can always put them on when you’re ready to cook. Ask about the stores return policy; sometimes a shoe that seems comfortable at the beginning can end up hurting your back and legs after spending hours in them. P a g e6 | 11 Ayush Majhi (DC4625)

SITXFSA004 Develop and implement a food safety program Fire Resistant Clothing One of the most important qualities of a professional chef’s uniform is that the materials are made of clothing resistant to flame. The reason for this is obvious; if you’re busy in the kitchen, it can be very easy to accidentally let your sleeve get too close to the flame. Wearing clothing that is fire resistant can help prevent this. Obviously if you’re heating up leftovers in the microwave, you probably don’t need to don a special outfit, but if you’re going to spend hours preparing a special meal with several burners, making sure your clothes can take the heat could be important. This is especially true if you have kitchen help; it can be easy for someone to bump into you. You can buy fire resistant clothing and chef’s jackets at uniform stores or from a specialty retailer. Long Sleeves It may seem silly to wear long sleeves in a hot kitchen, but professionals know that to do otherwise increases your chances of getting burned, either by fire or hot liquids. A chef’s jacket is a great way to solve this problem; you can simply hang it on a hook in your kitchen and put it on whenever you’re ready to start cooking. While long sleeves are important, it’s also important to make sure that your sleeves are not so loose fitting that they hang by the flame when you’re at the stove. If you go with a chef’s jacket, make sure to try it on first so that the sleeves aren’t too long. Not only is this distracting, but it’s also an easy way to catch your sleeve on fire. Hair Restraints There’s no health code that says you have to wear a hat or head cover, but it still makes perfect sense to do so.