Pasta salad - using hands to mix?!??

[SomethingLikeAPhenomenom]

DH was making a mayo pasta salad today as friends over for a BBQ. He'd put all the ingredients in a big bowl, I walked in on him using his hands to mix it all together. AIBU to have called him out on how disgusting and inappropriate this is? No idea where he's got the idea that hands are better than spoons. Am now getting the silent treatment - genuinely now questioning if I am in the wrong here and this is normal behaviour??

@DibDibDibduh why does a dry ingredient make any difference?

why does a dry ingredient make any difference?

Dry food.
A recently contaminated dry ingredient in moist food can spoilt it.
Germs grow better in moist environments. Particularly if rich in nutrients.

Exceptions are foods that are very salty or very sweet. Sugar and salt in high amounts act as preservatives.
Pure oil also helps and garlic and some spices also limit bacterial growth, which explains why traditional food from hot countries tends to be garlicky or spicy.

I can't see a problem if the person washed their hands just before doing it. There are always threads about "I saw a person touch food", hands are actually as clean as gloves if washed.

Ham - as a fairly common sandwich filling - is dry then is it? I think you’re kidding yourself.

I would like to see some peoples reaction when they eat an iced cake, after all you can see the finger prints of the person who decorated it.

Do some people believe that food factories etc use gloves?

[quote intheningnangnong]@DibDibDibduh why does a dry ingredient make any difference?[/quote]
I don't want food under my fingernails or around my rings
Unless the person has used a scrubbing brush and prepped like a surgeon I'm not eating it
I wear gloves and wash them first
It's the only thing I'm weird about

@DibDibDibduh I can assure you scrubbing brushes and iodine do not feature in hand hygiene at food factories, restaurants and cafes. I can however assure you that food prep is undertaken with bare hands.

I used to be the person who sprinkled the grated cheese onto lasagne in ceramic dishes for restaurants, unlike supermarket grated cheese it isn’t dusted with potato starch so by the time break came round (after six hours) your hands were mainly cheese.

@SimonJT I was exaggerating with the surgeon comment

I would like to see some peoples reaction when they eat an iced cake

Icing has a high sugar content, so it doesn't grow germs easily.
I'm not too bothered about that.

Noooooooo that’s disgusting!

Mixing a sauce into pasta etc should be done with a spoon, that's common sense surely. I'm surprised by the people who wear gloves to make meatballs or skewers etc. What?! Its only you and your family eating them, it's hardly as though you're catering a wedding. Do we really believe all clubs etc who put on sandwiches for parties etx use gloves to make sandwiches?
In answer, I would use a spoon to stir through pasta because otherwise it's a lot of mess on my hands for no bloody reason. I certainly do not wear frigging gloves when making meatballs or burgers or chips or anything in my own house! That's taking Germs to the next level surely. As for bits of meat in your hands - wash them.

Lettuce, tomato and cucumber all go in a sandwich, and none of them are dry ingredients.

That's grim! Use a bloody spoon. I wouldn't eat it

As long as he's washed his hands between wiping his arse and touching the pasta, it's fine from a hygiene point of view. As hands are more sensitive than a metal spoon, it's also better in terms of ensuring thorough coverage and not breaking up the pasta.

Of course mince is broken up with hands. Using a utensil turns light and fluffy strands of meat into tough little chunks; when you form patties, the warmth of clean hands changes the texture into one that holds together during cooking. And eggs are best separated by hand, rice washed with your fingers, bread dough mixed and kneaded with them. Pastry and scones, I'd say hands off whenever possible, but that's because I have warm hands and prefer food that doesn't have the consistency of concrete.

I'm not a fan of getting my hands mucky unnecessarily, but when it comes to cooking, you have two perfectly good multipurpose utensils at the end of your arms. Utensils are there for the jobs that aren't best performed with your hands, such as beating eggs, handling hot or very cold items and getting things out of pots and pans.

I would only eat that if he had gloves on, however well you wash your hands nails usually have faeces and bacteria under them. I did an NHS study on it.

You are right OP, he clearly should have used his feet! and Pumpkin P was it the fact that you are the cheese at the same time as he bit it or that he put it back like that. If it was at the same time as eating.... I assume you kissed him etc... So can't that as an issue. But if he out it back in the fridge like that then YANBU

But chefs work in sterile environments and have a basic understanding of hygiene, no?
Er, no.

your hands nails usually have faeces and bacteria under them.

Faeces? How? Do you scrape your arse with your fingernails? Most of us use toilet paper to wipe with.

@madcatladyforever

I would only eat that if he had gloves on, however well you wash your hands nails usually have faeces and bacteria under them. I did an NHS study on it.

I would like to see that study please

I would assume the pp meant fecal bacteria. Which is what people who do this type of study would have said, rather than faeces. At best fecal matter.
And they'd know our skin has bacteria everywhere. It's just that most aren't dangerous.

If your hands are clean, it's fine. My son is a chef and makes pasta with his hands, so why not pasta salad? But if he does not have clean hands, that is disgusting.

@DramaAlpaca, I've just asked my DD who is a Chef. They wear the blue gloves if they do anything with their hands, but only if utensils aren't available. Short nails are a must and they scrub under them when they wash their hands, around every half hour.

@SchrodingersImmigrant, it's easy enough to Google it.

Durgasarrow, do they not wear gloves? Does he scrub under his nails first?

My son is a chef and makes pasta with his hands, so why not pasta salad?

Maybe ask him?

Pasta is cooked after being handled.
Pasta salad isn't, so it requires higher hygiene standards.

I wash my hand and use a nail brush when cooking. I wash my hands after touching different foods, surfaces, packaging. My hands are constantly being washed and constantly touching food. I’ve never knowingly poisoned anyone.

Hysteria.