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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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. .....
We have a crawling baby!

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

(Should I LTB?!)

OP posts:

BalloonSlayer · 18/10/2015 08:34

This is a classic Mumsnetty reply from me here but the only thing that made me about your OP is that you let your baby crawl around in the kitchen. So you're worried about a dab of raw meat juice on the floor but not worried about tripping over a crawling baby when you are turning to the sink to drain a pan of spaghetti?

Grazia1984 · 18/10/2015 08:41

I am the picking off the kitchen floor and eating the food kind of person. It's why the chidlren don't have asthma etc. Remember dirt is good. Go and read some scientific papers on it. The clean baby who never crawls on grass is the one who will have problems, not vice versa.

StarlingMurmuration · 18/10/2015 08:56

I a) don't let my crawling baby crawl around the kitchen and b) would have wiped it up anyway with anti-bac and kitchen roll. I don't think you're being OTT at all but then I'm very cautious with raw meat since I was hospitalised with a stomach bug, after my dad used the breadboard to chop raw chicken then didn't bother to wipe it afterwards.

LaurieMarlow · 18/10/2015 09:17

The OP has been clear that a) it's an open plan room that encompasses kitchen/dining/living and b) baby doesn't crawl when they're actually cooking.

So can we lay off the 'you let the baby crawl in the kitchen?' outrage because there's nothing unreasonable about what she's doing.

OP YABU about the antibac though. I hate that stuff. I was raised in a pristine environment by an OCD mum and developed a fairly serious dust allergy the second I moved out. I'm definitely of the school of thought that there's such a thing as too clean.

WitchWay · 18/10/2015 09:31

I would have wiped any smear with the dishcloth or tea towel with a bit of water and washing up liquid if it was greasy. The cloth or towel would then have been chucked in the washing machine to be done with the next load. I only use antibacterial spay for cleaning up after the odd cat turd has been flicked out of the litter tray, which as they mostly go outside for the loo is about once a year.

dementedpixie · 18/10/2015 09:41

If the dropped spoon had left meat juices/other marks on the floor then yes of course I would wipe it up. I wouldn't leave it to get stood in/crawled on by a baby. Anyone who would just leave the mark there is a bit skanky (and I am far from a clean freak)

coconutpie · 18/10/2015 09:42

Yuck. OP YANBU. I don't understand this whole "germs are good for you" nonsense - there's a big difference when it comes to food safety. I'd rather not be exposed to bacteria from raw meat which can cause serious stomach problems and does nothing to "build the immune system", it just makes you violently ill.

Also, no shoes indoors.

arethereanyleftatall · 18/10/2015 09:47

It would not have crossed my mind to wipe the floor, unless sauce had splattered. I also would have carried on stirring with the same spoon.

WitchWay · 18/10/2015 10:01

I would have carried on with the same spoon, but would have dabbled it in the bowl of hot soapy water I have in the sink while cooking, then rinsed it under the tap before using it. Eating washing up liquid is bad for the heart. Seriously.

LaurieMarlow · 18/10/2015 10:13

But coconut, people eat raw beef quite regularly without 'serious stomach problems' and in any case the amount of raw juice that ended up on the floor would have been minuscule.

I would have wiped it to get rid of the smear, but more than that is a bit OCD in my book.

expatinscotland · 18/10/2015 10:16

YABU

FetaComplete · 18/10/2015 10:27

We are all filled with bacteria (in shit, snot, saliva, plaque to name a few) and covered with them (skin, hair, nails, mucous membranes) surrounded by them (air, surfaces, animals, plants, food).

Our immune systems have evolved to deal with with this and are thought to develop as a response to challenges from the environment.

The most harmful bacteria are usually kept in check by the less harmful, and we also have an inbuilt protection in that we are disgusted by things that may harm us eg rotting meat, vomit faeces etc.

This attempt to sterilise the world is ridiculous, futile and self defeating.

Gatehouse77 · 18/10/2015 10:52

I would have wiped with kitchen towel to avoid slipperyness.

All my children have crawled around the kitchen floor - open plan, no way of keeping them out. Although if I could engage them in an activity elsewhere I would, of course.

I remember catching one of mine at 9 months sat on the kitchen floor eating a dead fly She's still alive and doing well!

Also...prepare yourselves...but as none of mine had bottles I have never sterilised a thing in their lives I make sure they're clean, my house is clean enough (ahem, am a shit housekeeper ) and our food hygiene is good enough.

I'm striving to be a generally good enough parent. I excel in some areas and flop spectacularly in others. But all round, good enough.

TaliZorah · 18/10/2015 11:16

YABU.

welshHairs · 18/10/2015 11:42

Also...prepare yourselves...but as none of mine had bottles I have never sterilised a thing in their lives

Same here, Gatehouse!

Gatehouse77 · 18/10/2015 16:06

welshHairs I recall a friend asking me when I stopped sterilising cups and plates and was shocked by my reply. That said, I also didn't use plastic/melamine crockery or cutlery. The exception being a sippy cup for going out and about.

I don't think I've ever been accused of being precious with my lot !

AFewGoodWomen · 18/10/2015 16:33

Never sterilized anything either. I think it's quite common. I breast fed exclusively until they were over 6 months, then continued alongside ordinary food until they were over 2.

catgirl1976 · 18/10/2015 16:44

YABU

Wouldn't have entered my head to care. I'm impressed he put the spoon in the sink and not back in the meet. 10 second rule and all that. I'd have banged it back in and carried on stirring.

pudcat · 18/10/2015 16:51

Babies should not be crawling in kitchens.

lifesalongsong · 18/10/2015 17:02

There is no 10 second rule. it's just something people say.

I would have only wiped up a splash to avoid a mess on the floor, I wouldn't have considered risk to a crawling baby later in the day.

It's a while since I had a crawling baby so can't be sure but I'm sure mine would have crawled around while I was cooking if only because there wouldn't have been anywhere else for them to go. It's not hard to make sure you don't trip over a baby is it?

Original poster

Absofrigginlootly · 18/10/2015 17:11

The OP has been clear that a) it's an open plan room that encompasses kitchen/dining/living and b) baby doesn't crawl when they're actually cooking.

So can we lay off the 'you let the baby crawl in the kitchen?' outrage because there's nothing unreasonable about what she's doing.

Thank you laurie I was beginning to feel like a naughty school girl!

Whoever said it up thread, I did actually apologise to my DH after reading this......not that we'd had a screaming match or anything over it anyway(!!) I just said "are you going to wipe that?"

I also only use an antibacterial spray on raw meat, I'm not one of those mums shrieking in horror that their little pwincess has got a speck of dirt on them, whilst simultaneously hosing them down in a decontamination tank

But I do take on board what people have said about antibacs.

(And yes, shoes off at the door in this house!!)

OP posts:

NumbBlaseCold · 18/10/2015 17:41

Raw beef, I would not have cared.

Raw chicken or turkey, I would have wiped the floor.

I'd have rinsed the spoon and carried on using.

NumbBlaseCold · 18/10/2015 17:42

I also only use an antibacterial spray on raw meat

Am I reading it wrong, you use antibac on the meat itself or on things it has touched like work surfaces?

Knottyknitter · 18/10/2015 17:43

Depends.

If I'd just mopped, I'd wipe it, if the next job after cooking was to mop, I wouldn't.

Our crawling/cruising baby is stairgated out of kitchen for safety anyway.

willconcern · 18/10/2015 17:49

Off topic, but do people really sterilise cups & plates???

On topic, I'd have kept using the spoon, and wiped any splashes with kitchen towel.

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