To think hygiene standards are low in Britain?

[castemary]

This obviously does not apply to everyone. But in Britain, I think there is a general acceptance of fairly low hygiene standards. I see it in several areas.
With individuals you have people telling everyone they do not wash bras for months, do not clean their teeth every day, do not wash face masks every day.
In public areas, offices and shops the cleaning often consist of no more than a quick hoover occasionally, a mop and a bit of damp wiping. Apart from toilets, places are rarely properly cleaned.
I think most people simply do not realise how unhygienic Britain is until they go to countries that do have a good standard of hygiene. There seems to be a lot of emphasis in Britain on superficial things that make places look good such as scatter cushions or make-up, and not on basic hygiene and cleanliness.
AIBU?

[quote VladmirsPoutine]@RadicalFern You are. Sorry but unwashed meat/chicken is just gross. How can you just stick a whole chicken in the oven or the pan, chuck in some spices and think 'job done'. Cannot imagine![/quote]
And that's the easiest way to spread salmonella around a kitchen!

Yabu. With the amount of allergies and problems occuring in children, which has been linked to too much cleanliness in general, that indicates to me that Britain is one of the cleaner countries. (If those two are indeed linked)

@vlasmirspoutine Washing chicken goes against every rule on kitchen hygiene.

Put it in an oven, and germs are killed at 55 degrees. Wash it and you'll have salmonella all over your sink and worktops, door handles, drawer handles.

Where I live it’s filthy and disgusting

Pavements covered In shit (dog/fox/human)
Litter
Huge blobs of spit/snot

I have to hot water and antibacterial spray my pram wheels every time I get home it’s absolutely foul. Wish I could move

Tigger1001 I know right! Admittedly, if I were to be killing and preparing the chicken myself, I would give it a good rinse, but probably under an outside tap.

Additionally OP, I grew up washing hands before meals and after using the loo, and as far as I know all my parent-friends teach their kids to wash theirs too.

Chicken washer here. I have to get the random bits of blood and gristle and slimy bits off. I’ve never had food poisoning.

So...you read someone on mumsnet only washes their bra twice a year and that makes the whole UK a festering hovel?

My dc always wash hands before food and so do their friends. Maybe you just happen to know dirty dc.

I think compared to may European countries our standards are quite high! Certainly in our town (on the South Coast) The beaches are swept daily ,all of our town is tidy .My friends and I wash our face masks every week ,and Kitchens /Bathrooms are cleaned daily .Hoovering and washing most days TBH!

Noooo you are not supposed to “wash” chicken. This issue is people have confused ideas as to what is hygienic. A restaurant caught washing chicken would be given a very low star rating or closed down... you are not being hygienic doing that!

I think it's definitely cultural that some people don't wash their chickens and believe if you do, you'll have salmonella everywhere and most likely drop dead from food poisoning. Quite interesting that a whole nation has this guidance/belief and another doesn't (with no record of such problems just from rinsing meat, for eons).

Is it just chicken that people think should be washed or should I be giving the bacon a quick splash about before it goes in the carbonara tonight?

Personally, I like to attack a chicken breast with a pressure washer in the garden before it hits the chopping board. None of this half-arsed sink washing nonsense.

Which cultures wash their chickens then?

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Is it just chicken that people think should be washed or should I be giving the bacon a quick splash about before it goes in the carbonara tonight?

I'm going to throw my sausages in the dishwasher now.. is that not something everyone does?!

I’ve just chucked my steaks in the sink with some washing up liquid.

In general (excepting during pandemics and for people with compromised immunity) we shouldn't be afraid of germs/dirt. They're a natural part of life.

Washed the sausage just now.

@Divebar2021

Which cultures wash their chickens then?

Quite a few, many African, Asian and Caribbean people wash meat, not just chicken.

I assume the cultures that wash their meat generally don't buy it from butchers with strict food hygiene laws that can see them closed if they violate them.

@Scienceisnotopinion

When schools reopened after the first lockdown teachers were very proud to declare that "the children were made to wash hands before lunch now! "

The problem in schools is the lack of hand washing facilities. Kids in my sons high school for example are discouraged from using the toilet jn class time but then cannot access hand washing facilities and also have time to eat. A school of 1600 pupils haven't got enough toilets to facilitate everyone washing hands at lunch. Hand sanitizer comes in handy but not the same as a proper hand wash.

@Arbadacarba I'm immunocompromised and my consultant has given up agreed I have a stomach of steel. Probably due to all the horse muck I've invested over the years
First he was "now you do wash bagged salad right?"
Now he's "please let the horse have the first bite of the apple before you eat it"
I never get stomach bugs, tonsillitis/chest infections are my usual thing

Many cultures do.

I mean washing all meat and fish, not just chicken. Food, in general before cooking. And by washing, of course not with soap. Lol. Just a good rinse with water (Why does water have to splash about while rinsing? There's a simple method to it).

Yes, food hygiene laws aren't as strict or not strictly implemented anyway. But then, you'd think salmonella would get to everyone easier and faster in those places or does salmonella come from already clean meat?

[quote castemary]@80sMum I clean my keyboard, many do not.
But in offices a lot of the time desks, lightswitches, door knobs are not cleaned. Even if they are supposed to be, they are not.[/quote]
We all cleaned our own desks - and I used to clean the light switches and door knobs twice a week too!
I think my colleagues thought my cleaning of the switches and door knobs was a bit over-the-top, until Covid came along and then they all started doing the same!

Hmmm..
I've travelled abroad for work to many countries, I'm not going to name and shame but some of the places were a real eye opener in terms of how dirty they were, much worse then the UK.

I think you are heavily generalising about Britain.

So some people don't shower everyday, it might be every other day, or they don't clean their bedding once a week - shock horror. That doesn't mean they are unhygienic or their homes are dirty.

Unhygienic to me, is people who don't wash their hands after they use the toilet, or people who cough into their hand then touch the handle bars on the bus/train, people who pick their nose, clip their fingernails on the train, put their feet up on the chairs infront etc.
Trust me, I've seen that on the subways/metros/trains/buses all over the world!