The one chopping board colour professional kitchens reserve for raw meat – and why you should copy them at home

In most professional kitchens, chopping boards are not just bits of plastic. They are a quiet traffic system keeping raw chicken away from salad leaves, and prawn shells away from your child’s packed lunch. One colour, in particular, carries the biggest burden.

Red.

Ask a chef which board they would grab for raw meat and you will almost always get the same answer. Red is where the blood goes. There is a reason for that, and it is not just kitchen folklore.

The quiet code behind coloured boards

Walk into a busy restaurant during prep and you’ll usually see a stack of boards, not a single battered wooden one. Each colour has a job. That system is not a legal requirement, but it is baked into food hygiene training because it makes safe habits automatic.

The standard commercial scheme in the UK looks like this:

• Red – raw meat (beef, pork, lamb, uncooked sausages, burgers)
• Blue – raw fish and seafood
• Yellow – cooked meats
• Green – salad, fruit, ready-to-eat veg
• Brown – root veg (carrots, potatoes, onions)
• White – bakery, dairy, general use

You will find small variations, but the core idea is the same. High‑risk raw proteins get their own colour, and red is almost always reserved for raw meat. It is bold, slightly alarming and hard to confuse with “safe” colours. That is very deliberate.

Why raw meat gets its own colour (and should in your kitchen too)

Raw meat is a perfect vehicle for food poisoning bugs such as Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. Those names crop up on posters in restaurant staff rooms for a reason. A single contaminated board, used unthinkingly for chopping lettuce after chicken, can undo all your careful cooking.

Heat will deal with bacteria in the meat itself. It will not help the cucumber you sliced on the same board afterwards. Separating equipment is a simple way to keep “before cooking” and “ready to eat” worlds apart. Colour-coding turns that rule into muscle memory instead of a mental checklist.

At home, most of us are not cooking for a dining room full of strangers, but we do mix raw and ready-to-eat food all the time. Chopping chicken then herbs, carving a roast then cutting sandwiches, preparing a barbecue next to a salad bowl. The risk pattern is the same, only smaller. Copying the red board rule is a cheap upgrade to your everyday safety.

What actually changes when you give raw meat its own board

I tried formalising what I already half‑did. One red plastic board, bought for a few pounds, became “raw meat only” for a week. Everything else – veg, bread, fruit, cheese – went on a separate board in a calmer colour.

In practice, three things happened very quickly. First, I stopped putting raw chicken down “just for a second” on whatever was nearest. The red board became the obvious landing pad. Secondly, washing up became more focused. I knew exactly which item needed the hottest water and most thorough scrub. Finally, I noticed fewer cluttered counters. The red board came out, did its job, then went straight to the sink.

The difference to my life was not dramatic, but it was precise. I was no longer trusting my memory at the end of a long day. I was trusting a colour that shouted “this has seen raw meat today – treat it accordingly”.

How to set up a simple colour system at home

You do not need the full professional rainbow. Unless you run a B&B from your kitchen, a stripped‑down version usually does the job.

A practical home set-up might look like this:

• Red board: raw meat and poultry only
• Blue board: raw fish and seafood (optional but useful if you eat a lot of fish)
• Neutral/light board (white or bamboo): bread, cheese, cooked meats
• Green board: salad, herbs, ready-to-eat fruit and veg

Two or three boards will cover most households. The key is consistency, not perfection. If red means raw meat in your house, let it mean that every single time. Do not use your red board for strawberries “just this once” because the others are in the dishwasher.

Label the boards if it helps, or store them in a holder in the same order each time. The less you have to think, the more the system works when you are tired, distracted or juggling several dishes at once.

Quick reference: what goes where

Board colour	Use at home	Risk level
Red	Raw meat & poultry	Highest – strict separation
Blue	Raw fish & seafood	High – separate if possible
Green/neutral	Ready-to-eat foods, cooked items	Keep away from raw juices

Cleaning, knife marks and when to say goodbye

Colour alone does nothing if the board is never properly cleaned. Professional kitchens treat boards as semi‑disposable tools: they scrub hard and replace them without sentiment when they are too scarred.

At home, some simple rules help:

• Wash boards used for raw meat in hot, soapy water immediately after use.
• Rinse, then let them air-dry upright – not flat in a damp pile.
• Use a dishwasher on a hot cycle if the board is dishwasher‑safe.
• Disinfect occasionally with a food‑safe sanitiser or diluted bleach (following the instructions), especially after poultry.

Deep knife grooves are the enemy. They hold on to juices and bacteria even after a casual wash. If your red board looks like a topographical map, it is time to retire it. Replacing a chopping board costs less than a takeaway. Replacing a family’s lost work days after a bout of food poisoning costs a great deal more.

Wooden boards can be excellent for bread and veg, but they are harder to disinfect thoroughly after raw meat. Many food safety trainers now suggest keeping raw meat for smooth, non‑porous plastic that you are not shy about binning when it ages.

Shortcuts, slips and why habits beat worry

Nobody runs a perfect kitchen. There will be mornings when bacon ends up on the wrong board, or a guest casually chops tomatoes on your red one. Panic does not help. A thorough clean, hot wash and a return to your normal system does.

The point of adopting the red‑for‑raw‑meat rule is not to live in fear of germs. It is to remove one whole category of “did I…?” from your mental clutter. Once the habit is there, the colour does the worrying so you do not have to.

If you live with other people, make the system visible. A tiny note on the wall or a quick explanation the next time someone helps with dinner is usually enough. Children, in particular, take to the idea very quickly. Red means “danger” long before they read a hygiene handbook.

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FAQ:

• Do I have to use red for raw meat? No, the law does not specify colours for home kitchens. Red is just the widely used convention in professional settings. You can choose any colour you like, as long as you are consistent and keep that board for raw meat only.
  
• Is one board really enough if I clean it properly? You can survive with a single board if you wash and disinfect it thoroughly between tasks, but it is easy to slip when you are rushed. Having a dedicated red board for raw meat makes it far less likely you will cross-contaminate by accident.
  
• Are wooden boards safe for raw meat? They can be, but they are harder to sanitise deeply once they are scored. Many experts now recommend plastic for raw meat, and reserving wooden boards for bread, fruit and cooked foods.
  
• Should I throw away a board after raw chicken? Not if it is in good condition and you clean it properly. Replace boards when they are badly scratched, warped or stained, or if they retain odours even after washing.
  
• Do colour-coded boards replace other food safety steps? No. You still need to wash your hands, keep raw meat in the fridge, cook it thoroughly and avoid leaving food at room temperature for too long. Colour-coding is one layer of protection, not the only one.