PREVRA Chopping Board Colour Chart: Standard Colour Coding to Prevent Cross-Contamination
A visual reference for your kitchen team showing the standard colour coding system for chopping boards. Essential for SFBB compliance and cross-contamination prevention in UK food businesses.
Why colour coding is a critical cross-contamination barrier
Using the same board for raw chicken and salad is one of the fastest routes to a food poisoning outbreak. The standard six-colour system — red for raw meat, blue for raw fish, yellow for cooked meat, green for salad and fruit, brown for vegetables, white for bakery and dairy — eliminates confusion at a glance.
Interestingly, this colour coding system is industry best practice, not a legal requirement written into UK food safety law. But your EHO will expect to see it, and its absence raises immediate questions about your cross-contamination controls during an inspection.
Embedding colour coding into your daily kitchen workflow
Print this chart and display it above every prep station. Make sure every board in your kitchen matches the colour code on the poster. Replace boards when they become deeply scored — bacteria lodge in knife cuts that cleaning cannot reach. Consider keeping a spare set in a different colour tone so even colour-blind staff can distinguish them by shade and position.
Pair this with a documented cleaning schedule. Digital SFBB helps here: your cleaning tasks are scheduled, assigned and verified, creating a record trail that shows your EHO colour coding is not just a poster on the wall but part of a working system. See also our Hand Washing Poster for the full hygiene picture.
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