To use a washed-up raw meat knife

I'm from a Chinese family and we just use one cleaver to cut everything from raw meat to veg. I do wash in between using soap but I don't even think my parents would have bothered...everything got fried anyway.

Kind of... I mean, obviously there are knives that are better suited to some jobs than others but I've never heard of anyone being strict about a "meat knife" that can't be used for anything else even after washing, even when working in restaurants. I've only ever known a couple of people who had different chopping boards for different things domestically (standard in restaurants, for good reason). So what's remarkable to me is that she has a partner who basically has the same attitude to these things - who thinks that there's such a thing as a "meat knife" and so on - when so few people do. Did they meet on peoplewhoareveryparticularaboutkitchenutensils.com ?

Well I've read some truly bonkers things on Mumsnet over the years but I think this is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever read.

Ah @TheFatCatsWhiskers1 got it! The cooking of the "new" raw meat cut by the "contaminated" knife would killl anything introduced. Thank you!

You’d be cooking the meat so if anything did transfer then it wouldn’t matter.

OK, maybe I'm missing a major point but . . . I cut up some raw chicken with a knife. Board and knife are washed thoroughly. Next day, that knife can't be used for bread, veg, etc, because of possible contamination but you could use it to cut up more meat. If it was a contaminated knife, couldn't it just contaminate the next meat it cut up?

My partner has a proper phobia of raw chicken and this wouldn’t even bother him! You are definitely not being unreasonable!

I agree! Any knife that can cut up raw chicken is unsuitable as a bread knife!

But OP’s DP is still massively over the top.

Your H is being dense.

Raw meat KNIFE. I don't splash raw meat under the tap.

I have a degree in microbiology and worked in infection prevention in hospitals and honestly I'd use a raw meat having given it a quick splash under the tap.

Maybe this style of knife would be a good compromise?

https://www.davidmellordesign.com/david-mellor-rosewood-serrated-vegetable-knife-12cm

As it’s designed for vegetables your DH could rest assured it had not crossed paths with any raw meat.

Your husband is being ridiculous.

He's being so irrationally anxious about the knife I'd suspect OCD.

It’s a bit more complex than that. Surfactants break down the cell walls of bacteria which results in either denaturation or triggers cell lysis (assuming they’re used correctly). There does need to be friction involved though, and if you want to sanitise a surface thoroughly then it needs to be cleaned of dirt first and then disinfected.

There was a study on the effect of of soap vs alcohol gel vs soap + alcohol gel on hand cleanliness. Soap was superior to gel, but soap + gel was most effective. Not that most people require that level of hygiene!

If you ability to assess risk is this bad, but you willingly sit in your front room daily (the place you are most likely to have an accident), I'm sorry but I can't help you.

We have developed as a society, a fucked in the head attitude to risk where we are conditioned to over estimate certain risks (because they suit us and are reflected by our fears) and under estimate others (precisely because we don't want to see them because they are inconvenient).

As a result we are over run by 'the worried well', who a repeat hypochondriacs who suddenly have 'bowel cancer', because they've had one episode of constipation and therefore they decide they are dying rather than thinking about their risk level or whether it goes away after eating a bunch of prunes.

It doesn’t make any difference. It’s the soap and the friction and the duration of the scrubbing that breaks down and washes away the pathogens. Unless the water is actively boiling, the heat isn’t having an effect other than making it a more comfortable temperature for you to have your hands in. Whether it helps the liquid foam up I’m not sure.

You don't have to kill bacteria to get rid of them - this is a myth and a misconception. What soap does is remove them by stopping them sticking to surfaces so that they are flushed or rinsed away. It is the same with hand washing - soap is more effective than antibac.

What soap and hot water does is remove DIRT. In this particular case bits of meat and blood. Bits of meat/other dirt can even be actually sterilised (which needs temps well above boiling) but remain a hazard because immediately after being sterilised, new bacteria can start to grow and by its nature meat can harbour the sort of bacteria that are potentially dangerous.

This is the same with the trying to clean hands with antibac or alcohol, or wiping surfaces down with antibac rather than something soapy. If the dirt is still there it can eventually become a hazard again. In fact domestic antibac surface sprays are basically detergents and dirt is removed by the wiping action. If all they did was kill bacteria they would be almost useless.

My main concern here is that you're either cutting bread with a chef's knife, or cutting meat with a bread knife. I'm not sure which is worst.

Hygeine wise I have no issues with what you've said.

I’m Autistic and OCD, and even I would use the knife after washing it up. If it’s been washed in hot soapy water, and dried, it’s nice and clean.

Oh god I had to name change for this 🤣 given everyone else’s responses. I am an Environmental Health officer. I personally put knives/ chopping boards that have been in contact with raw meat through the dishwasher as bacteria will be killed at high temp. I don’t like washing in fairy liquid and “hot water” which is probably only around 45/50oC and that won’t kill bacteria. If I did not have a dishwasher I would wash and then spray with anti bac spray and leave for a few minutes before rinsing/ or I would rinse with boiling water from my Quooker tap.

I separate out frying pans , some utensils and knives but that's because I'm vegan and prefer it

I never understood why people say that HOT soapy water should be used. Surely, if the temperature was hot enough to kill bacteria we couldn't actually use it to wash anything by hand so it can't he that.

what is the point of using hot soapy water? Does it activate the washing up liquid or Something? Genuinely curious.

Drip feed or what! why didn’t you put that in the OP?

he is unreasonable but for cultural reasons … which changes things a lot. FFS

I do like my Japanese knife set and must confess to using certain knives for certain duties. However, a clean knife is a clean knife.

China is an interesting cultural dimension and after working in APAC for many years, I'm not surprised at all by OPs husband's position. China is a nation of foodies - and this love of food extends beyond the consumption to the preparation.

What's more surprising is that it took 10 years to discover this discrepancy of culinary views!