To be angry with MIL over food hygiene?

[Shil0846]

MIL supposed to be helping me prepare family dinner. After putting Ds down for his nap, I discovered her with the raw chicken on my kitchen table (close to place mats and 1 of DS's toys) busy stuffing lemon up it's bottom. So I moved them away and went to the cupboard to get the veg.

When I turned round, I found she'd collected a bottle of oil, a knife from my cutlery drawer, onions and a tub of butter from the fridge - all without washing her hands. To get to the onions she'd have had to move the lettuce and tomato in the salad drawer of my fridge.

Am I over-reacting to think this is really disgusting and dangerous -particularly with a 1 YO in the house? She got very defensive when I asked her to wash her hands and said she's been cooking for over 50 years without any problem. She was also fuming when I insisted on scrubbing down the table where the chicken had been. Am I being too precious about this, or do I need to wash all cutlery/fridge door/bottles etc that may have come into contact?

YANBU

Far too many people are too gung-ho about food hygiene, especially around poultry. Takes me back to the Mumsnetter whose MIL par cooks the turkey on Christmas Eve, take it out of the oven, and leave it festering at room temp until it went back into the oven the following day

Whoever that was, I hope nobody died!

Personally, I think YANBU. I would expect someone to wash their hands after touching raw chicken and before they touched any other surfaces/food. I'm like Sanity, it takes me 4 or 5 hand washes to prep a chicken because I need to season etc in between.

You are so not being Unreasonable, if it was a commercial kitchen environmental health would have a field day.

Yanbu.

I also don't approve of lemon with chicken, it spoils the taste imo.

Yes, Poppy that's right.

Just - thanks for the tip on onions .

I'm an absolute slut around the house but anal over chicken. I use latex gloves, yes, I'm that weird. Luckily DP is the same. In this case I don't think you're being unreasonable at all but I'd explain it away to mil as one of your funny ways rather than lecturing her about hygiene. Then if it happens again you can (hopefully) both laugh about your cleaning up afterwards.

In other news I watched an old USA Wife Swap in the hols, they fed their children raw chicken daily. I was watching behind a cushion, dry heaving.

I wash my hands after touching raw chicken, any raw meat actually, but I'm sure it won't harm you in reality.

More importantly, who keeps onions in the fridge? That's just weird

I wash my hand loads when handling chicken but people seem happy to empty bins and then touch food so I don't think it's unusual

Nope, not BU at all. Would not like to revisit the 10 days I spent infected with campylobacter ever again. V v unpleasant and avoidable with the correct handling of food hygiene.

Chickens IME go off really quickly and I really try not to handle them at all bar out of the packaging and I to the baking tray.

Recent advice is not to wash chicken as the droplets can spread salmonella around and contaminate the surrounding area.

To the people that think the OP is being unreasonable. Have you ever had food poisoning from chicken? Campylobacter are a nasty nasty group of germs that can be extremely serious. My friend was laid up for weeks and was nearly admitted to hospital off the back of food poisoning from chicken when eating out. They took a sample and had to follow it up with the restaurant it was so serious.

I always wash my hands in really hot water after touching raw chicken (or any raw meat, really) and I wouldn't dream of touching other food before a proper scrub. I maybe wouldn't have chased her around the kitchen cleaning up after her as it could embarrass her but I'd definitely have mentioned it.

I'm pretty laid back when it comes to food but NOT with raw chicken (I really wanted to spell that - roar!)
No way!
Soooo... YADNBU

I think you're being a bit anal but Im vegetarian so wouldn't know.

However I think cooking with one's mother in law is best avoided, as a rule for life.

having seen the effects of salmonella yanbu!!

I would never touch anything other than the tap and then clean it afterwards after having touched raw chicken

In other news I watched an old USA Wife Swap in the hols, they fed their children raw chicken daily. I was watching behind a cushion, dry heaving.

I think I saw that episode. Was that the one where the swapped wife made the kids eat cooked meat the horror! and the dad got all upset and cried because she was "killing" his kids? Crazy.

I don't think this is an overreaction at all. She should have prepared the chicken away from place mats and toys and washed her hands before touching anything else. It's not OTT, it is basic food hygiene.

YANBU at all.
However your MIL is unlikely to see your point. I've been in your position (actually, raw chicken left by sterilised bottles that were drying ) and no longer have the energy to argue with MIL give a sh*t what she thinks. We now get a takeaway

YANBU! I'd have freaked out too. (And scrubbed everything.)

YANBU but it does sound as if you may need to think how to approach these things slightly more sensitively with your MIL. She clearly didn't think she was doing anything wrong, and it sounds as if she was really upset at you "telling her off".

I would have felt and reacted exactly the same as you did, OP. "really disgusting and dangerous -particularly with a 1 YO in the house" is right.

Yep Steff! He was sobbing in the bathroom when swap wife took them out for a burger (cooked!).

I wish I was brave enough to chase my MIL around the kitchen! But in fact I just asked her to wash her hands and scrubbed the table with antibac wipes once she'd finished.

I did have an inkling that we might not agree on food hygiene, so I mentioned to her earlier that I was really nervous of raw chicken (in an aren't I silly but please humour me sort of way) and that I'd do the prep myself. I think that's why she made her move whilst I was with DS.

I would have been annoyed about handling the salad veg with chicken hands, the other things I would have just wiped down and not been bothered.

Yanbu

I once caught mil washing raw pork chops (not sure why) over a bowl of salad leaves soaking in the sink. The pork water was going straight over the salad . There was only me having salad so I thought she might be trying to bump me off, or give me worms. I didn't eat it!

Chicken is even worse.

All those saying she's over- reacting - do you really prep raw chicken without regard to hygiene?or do
You just not cook much?