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?

My MIL does this with raw chicken. She's a bloody trained cook albeit from many moons ago. Drives me nuts!!!

I'd he bothered.

DH once had compilabacta (sp?) and was very very ill. The gp reported it to environmental health and we had a visit and everything. They asked where he had eaten out recently.

All raw poultry contains this bacteria and it is WAY more virulent than listeria.

I a mega slattern with everything except raw poultry.

A friend of mine used to sleepwalk and eat food from the kitchen , she wouldn't remember until she saw the evidence in the morning. One morning she found a pack of chicken breasts in her fridge had been opened and there were teeth marks in it.....doesn't really relate to your MIL being a minger but I thought I would share

YANBU

Watch This it illustrates how easily bacteria like E.coli, Listeria and Campylobacter can be spread without adequate food hygiene.

Yanbu op. If you handle raw meat you should wash your hands and surface before moving on to the next thing. I would of been pissed right off if someone had done that in my kitchen

YANBU. I always wash my hands after touching/preparing raw chicken. The bit about the salad is particularly gross IMO.

Thanks for all the replies. Fridge and kitchen scrubbed from top to bottom. MIL unofficially banned from my kitchen for the foreseeable future.

I run my hands under water before touching anything else just to get the slime off but that is far as I go really. So far it has never been a problem for any of us.

If I am hosting I am more careful and follow the rules out of respect for the fact that they may follow better hygiene practices themselves. But a quick rinse under the water before touching the fridge etc when cooking just for us is all I do and none of us have ever had food poisoning.

Ugh. Yanbu. At all!
My mil reuses the plastic packaging from chicken pieces to serve party food... I binned it all!

YANBU, my mum does this, drives me bloody crazy as it's so dangerous these days now chickens are full of campylobacter which wasn't the case when we were kids.

My mum is a trained cook too Haggis! I have friends who aren't careful with raw chicken. I get stressed eating at their house now.

YANBU

My mum also does this. (Can we say its a generational thing?). Last time she stayed with me I watched her handle a tray full of raw chicken, and then proceed to walk around my kitchen managing to touch absolutely everything in the space of a few moments - including this nice flavoured oil I used in salads - and she grabbed it by the spout. When she saw me watching and gaping in horror she started splashing everything down with some water spreading the problem further...

I only ate cooked things that evening, threw out the contaminated oil, and thoroughly cleaned the kitchen after she left. I honestly have no idea what to do for future visits.

I cant believe so many people think it is ok to contaminate their surroundings and food with a deadly bacteria.
What if it kills someone?

Tie her up, Dreamerdoer!

my then-mother-in-law let her dogs get at the joint of meat (chew it) then cut off the edges and served the rest to her guests.

that finished her for me. she was 'dead' from then on.

I never touch raw chicken. I use those plastic surgical type gloves that Lakeland sell, or even two little food bags on my hands. YANBU, food poisoning is no fun and really dangerous for a baby.

All the "you're OTT and we've never had food poisoning doing similar" people - just add "YET" to your comments. So far you've been lucky but by the law of averages, given the extremely high level of bird contamination, one day you're going to get caught out.

I'm also funny about food hygiene so I don't think you're being unreasonable. My partner and his mum have questionable good hygiene but they don't see it as an issue...I'll watch my partner handle raw meat while cooking and then wipe his hands on his trousers! Have you ever!???

The problem is that its my issue (even though I firmly believe they should be better at handling food) and I can't make them do what I want them to do because they're just not wired the same way. So...I have to live with it :(

What scares me even more is that way that the MIL lets her dogs lick her face and hands and then she handles my baby without washing!!!

• food hygiene not good hygiene. Apologies

YANBU

OP - you are absolutely right and I would be the same.

I get out all the utensils I need before touching chicken, wash hands before and after, all boards and utensils are put straight into the dishwasher.

I totally agree with all the comments about questionable food prep habits too.

p.s. It is not a generational thing, I am probably the same age as a lot of your DMs /MiLs

reddotty I don't worry about dogs though in the way I do meat. We have a dog and he has licked the kids' faces sometimes a lot. I'm very much one of these people who thinks we need a bit of dirt and germs. You would be horrified by my house :)

except with raw meat. I also have gloves for when I need to dice raw chicken. When DH is cooking I have nagged him into not touching a thing with his raw meat hands. Even the bin.

We have never had food poisoning in the house which makes me think dogs, muddy veg etc are probably just fine.

Oh od I'd have been twitching watching her. My mother was a school kitchen supervisor for 20 years and I've had the principles of food safety drummed into me, first of which is, you store and prepare raw meat separately from everything else.

Yanbu. I'm quite shocked at the amount of people who seem to think this is okay! I've worked in restaurants and cafes as a Manager for many years and if anyone did this it would be very serious - a total breach of hygiene standards.