MIL’s lack of food hygiene makes me feel sick

[sunflowers365]

I’ve just finished a week at my parent in laws for Christmas. My MIL’s food hygiene, and just general cleanliness, makes me feel sick. For context, I have a 15 month old daughter, which makes this more serious for me. She defrosted chicken on the kitchen counter all night. She left my daughter’s turkey bolognaise out on the hob for 5 hours yesterday before it went into the fridge and she reheated it today. She washed raw chicken in the sink today too. They have no hot water in their kitchen. Their kitchen floor is the dirtiest kitchen floor I’ve ever seen in my life- flecked with dried on food all over. The tiles at the back of the hob are greased over with fat. The fridge is full to bursting. The counter tops are strewn with food such as pickles, jams, dried fruits etc. I can’t even use the downstairs shower because I’m terrified of their shower curtain touching me and can’t bear to step on the bath mat. I bring my own flip
flops to wear in their upstairs bathroom. We are sleeping in their bedroom and it smells so musty. The level of dust and clutter is just foul. I love my parents in law but their house and lack of food hygiene disgusts me. Can’t wait to go home!!

Defrosting on bench overnight , yes
Allowing food to thoroughly cool before, refrigerating, yes

And I’m afraid in the 1980’s and 90’s we were all told to wash chicken before cooking it

Interesting to hear this, my mums house is like this and i she is very very offended if I raise anything and suggest she needs some help (she is quite immobile and lives in Ireland, I live in Scotland and can only do so much every time I go there, it needs constant attention). I am dreading telling her that we are going to stay in an air bnb next time.

Where else are you supposed to rinse meat ?

Yes, plenty of people throughout history have died from dysentery. However, you don’t get dysentery from food unless someone who is infected with dysentery has handled it. It’s caused by a parasite not a bacteria. Why don’t YOU do your research before spouting such hysterical idiocies?

Same. I'm still alive.

Agree OP could have put the the sauce in the fridge herself if concerned.

I do this with my in laws as they have cats that are up in counters & they are too old/lazy (FIL is too frail, MIL too lazy) to clean it & their cleaner does what she can in 2 mornings a week but while my LO was a baby I insisted we get an air b&b as “the baby bed doesn’t fit next to any beds in their house” (it deffo could have done but I didn’t want my tiny baby scooting around in cat shit and/or dropped food

My MIL doesn't believe in germs despite regularly being ill with stomach upsets. She handles raw meat and doesn't wash her hands, her surface cloth is ancient and smelly, she never throws food away, there are open jars which I suspect are years old in her fridge. Family buffets are left out for hours and hours before finally being put away in the fridge and re-served the next day. She's tried to feed out of date ham (4 weeks past) to my children and so on. She double dips meat/food covered knives in jars of pickle and mayo. I avoid going there as much as possible.

I'd hate the dirty floor with bits of dried food on. Sounds gross. Could you buy her a steam mop as a gift OP.

That’s hilarious! 🤣

Yes. Always on a plate so raw meat liquid can’t drip all over the counter/worktop/surface/side 😄

This would be difficult fir me too @sunflowers365

My main Q is how much could you help? It sounds like not a lot, so was that cos you weren't permitted, didn't have time or felt out of place helping?
I have to admit I normally just fet stuck in cleaning up if I'm anywhere that's not as clean as I'd like.

Sounds ok to me.
Standard practice most of it.
Not rinsing raw chicken in the sink though.
Theyre still alive to tell the tale!

Re the rinsing meat, poultry, etc, it was common back then. Tbh, it still needs it. Meat has chemicals and bacteria on. Wash it in a specific bowl kept for that job.

My daughter partner is from Haiti. In the Caribbean and African countries, washing meat in water and white vinegar, too, is pretty common from a hygiene point of view

Leaving chicken or any meat on a plate to defrost overnight, providing the weather is cooler, isn't an issue.

In the summer, it goes in the fridge for longer to defrost.

Leaving food to cool down on the side in the cooler weather is fine, too

What you said about the other mess, I wouldn't have stayed there. It's disgusting.

Putting it all together sounds like a nightmare. Stay at a local hotel in future

A nice idea to buy her a steam mop, but she wouldn’t use it.

You sound very judgemental and insensitive. I wouldn’t want to host you in my house. Could you be a bit OCD, do you think? Food hygiene norms have changed over time. Older people can struggle with cleaning, and sight deteriorates, so may not see the bits you find disgusting. Why not pay for a deep clean of your your in-laws’ house while you take them out for a treat, and do the hosting yourself next time. You’ll be old yourself one day. Be kind.

Does nobody else think it's a concern that these elderly people haven't got hot water in their kitchen? 🤔

At the risk of starting a riot, where is she supposed to rinse her chicken if not in the sink? Or do you mean she rinses it into the washing up bowl? I rinse my chicken into the empty sink and clean up afterwards before then putting the washing up bowl into the sink to do any dishes. Am I unwittingly risking food poisoning?... Other points about general cleanliness are a bit grim though. I'm assuming work surface/ counter are clean before preparing food though...

Previous posters have said so.

There’s plenty of scientific evidence showing that washing raw poultry does no good but potentially plenty of harm. And the spray of bacteria during the washing goes way beyond the kitchen sink. I watched a programme where it demonstrated that the contaminated droplets reached the furthest away work surfaces as well as all over the draining board, taps, tea towels and basically anything near the sink 🤢
https://www.rd.com/article/never-wash-chicken-before-cooking-it/

Washing chicken is not to kill germs. Instead of judging a cultural practice because you don’t understand it, and assuming all those who participate didn’t pass year 2 biology, just ….. ask??

When I say washing chicken I mean I’m getting rid of all the extra jelly bits, trimming excess fat, getting rid of leftover feathers, rinsing it in lemon/lime/vinegar to improve taste, that sort of thing. Absolutely no one believes cold water will kill the germs in a chicken you donut.

There are frequent health announcements these days in the UK warning us not to wash chickens, as bacteria can splatter a long way. It’s safer to put it straight in the oven. No need to wash.
Not sure about other countries particularly the USA though as they may use chemicals that aren’t allowed here (yet).

Hagpie · Today 15:41

Washing chicken is not to kill germs. Instead of judging a cultural practice because you don’t understand it, and assuming all those who participate didn’t pass year 2 biology, just ….. ask??

I haven’t seen any poster judging cultural practices and I certainly wasn’t. Apologies if you thought otherwise.

Absolutely no one believes cold water will kill the germs in a chicken

Thats not true.

I grew up with food being defrosted overnight and I wasn’t sick once

Could you not maybe get someone to take her out to clean for her or get a cleaner in while you take her out.