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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU or is DH? Food hygiene related

113 replies

Absofrigginlootly · 17/10/2015 23:29

Please help settle a friendly debate....

ok, I admit I can be a little OTT about food hygiene/infection control etc (being a nurse).... But this evening DH had just started browning some beef for a stew and dropped the plastic spoon he'd just stirred the raw meat with on the floor. He chucked the spoon in the sink and picked up a new one.

"Aren't you going to spray dettol on the floor and wipe where the spoon fell?" I said.

DH said he didn't see the need.Hmm .....
We have a crawling baby!

DH thinks what I said needed doing was OTT...... AIBU??

(Should I LTB?!) Wink Grin

OP posts:
SweetSorrow · 17/10/2015 23:32

I probably wouldn't have wiped it unless there was a splash of sauce. My kitchen floor is mopped every other day and I have a crawling baby too but a dropped spoon isn't something that would concern me.

CocktailQueen · 17/10/2015 23:33

Yabu! You don't need to... Crawling babies will pick up much worse than that. Good for their immune systems...

Original poster
Absofrigginlootly · 17/10/2015 23:34

Even one that had literally just been used to stir raw meat??

OP posts:
Zippidydoodah · 17/10/2015 23:35

I would have wiped it with an anti bacterial wipe, but I'm no clean freak! My kids get their fair share of exposure, believe me. I just think that raw meat juice is a step too far.

chelle792 · 17/10/2015 23:36

What?? No. But then OH seems to think my cooking methods are not the most hygienic. I'm yet to find out why apart from the fact that he washes his hands every couple of minutes when cooking

Original poster
Absofrigginlootly · 17/10/2015 23:36

Yes I get that a bit of dirt can do um good etc..... But bacteria from raw meat could cause food poisoning/gastroenteritis.... People die from that

OP posts:
DisappointedOne · 17/10/2015 23:37

You're being OTT.

melonribena · 17/10/2015 23:37

I would have anti bac sprayed the area and wiped with kitchen roll.

And I'm no clean freak. Meat juices are a no no

ouryve · 17/10/2015 23:37

Normally, I'd say YABU, since you don't exactly eat off the floor, but a crawling baby is a bit of a game changer.

Though, if I was cooking, crawling bay wouldn't even be allowed in the kitchen and all greasy splashes would be just wiped with kitchen paper (I keep a piece on the floor to kick around if I'm doing potentially messy cooking)then cleaned properly after cooking.

Costacoffeeplease · 17/10/2015 23:38

Yabu

Mmmmcake123 · 17/10/2015 23:38

I am with you op but I think we're in the minority and probably come across as OTT. There is also the thing that little ones should be exposed to some germs to build up resistance. I wouldn't get the dettol out but would make sure that the splot didn't get the chance to crust over

OutsSelf · 17/10/2015 23:39

I think one of my crawling babies managed to get in the fridge and lick the lambchops once, OP so I'm not really on a hair trigger for the raw meat thing anymore. I'd probably have wiped it personally but his lack of wiping wouldn't be bothering ne

Wolfiefan · 17/10/2015 23:42

I wouldn't have a crawling baby in the kitchen.
Weirdly if it was raw chicken I might think twice. Other than that I'm not sure I'd worry!
One of my kids was a baby laminate licker!

MrsTerryPratchett · 17/10/2015 23:42

Chicken, I would have worried. Beef, not so much. I eat steak tartare.

Original poster
Absofrigginlootly · 17/10/2015 23:42

All I meat was just to get the dettol spray, a quick squirt and wipe with kitchen roll..... Would people honestly just go "oh well" and continue to step in raw meat juice/let their babies crawl over it?!

It appears opinions are divided!!! It still seems grim to me.....!

OP posts:
Mermaidhair · 17/10/2015 23:43

Yanbu, you have a crawling baby. I'm not sure on the stats of how long salmonella can survive on a surface, but it doesn't take much to remove the risk. Star for your dh for changing the spoons though!

Original poster
Absofrigginlootly · 17/10/2015 23:43

*all I meant

OP posts:
BrandNewAndImproved · 17/10/2015 23:43

I would have for chicken or pork wiped the floor but not beef. You can eat raw beef if you really wanted to.

DoveCazzoEIlMioCaffe · 17/10/2015 23:44

Way way OTT and U. It was a bit of raw beef. People eat it raw and spectacularly fail to die all the time. You'll give yourself the screaming heebee-jeebies if you carry on worrying like this. I would much rather my crawling baby hoovered up a bit of beef juice than bloody chemicals anyway.

memyselfandaye · 17/10/2015 23:44

People eat raw meat, steak tartare etc and I love a slice of raw bacon! Im still here, I think you are being unreasonable, and I say that as someone who caught a superbug in a hospital and had to have two lots of surgery to cut out chunks of infected flesh, so I am also a bit ott with hand washing and wiping surfaces.

JassyRadlett · 17/10/2015 23:45

I'd be a great deal more worried by having a crawling baby underfoot, tbh. Though I'd probably have given the floor a quick wipe, dettol would be OTT though.

It's beef, not chicken.

Bunnyjo · 17/10/2015 23:46

Are you talking about raw beef or chicken? Because that makes a difference to my answer...

If you're talking about raw beef, then honestly, you're likely to have a similar bacterial loading on the soles of your shoes as the surface of raw beef. So, unless you go around spraying Dettol everywhere you've walked then YABU

If you were talking about raw poultry, then I would be with you.

worked as a lab manager in a food testing microbiology laboratory and currently on my final year of a biosci degree

WorraLiberty · 17/10/2015 23:47

It wouldn't have entered my head to wipe or anti bac the floor.

Then again, I wouldn't let a baby crawl on the floor in the kitchen really.

Katymac · 17/10/2015 23:47

salmonella isn't likely in beef - as far as food poisoning goes it's fairly inert (unless it's actually mouldy)

Chicken/fish/pork I'd wipe up but no spray

AgentZigzag · 17/10/2015 23:47

Because you're told to sterilise everything when you have a newborn it's bloody difficult to change that mindset sometimes when they start crawling about.

You might know it's good for their immune system but when you see something you think might put them at risk it's not so easy to ignore.

I don't think you're being OTT OP, but if it's worrying you and not your DH you may as well just give whatever it is a wipe to put your mind at rest and leave him to be the boost for her immune system?