To ask what you do when preparing raw meat

[Rosesandthistles]

I have OCD with a contamination/germ obsession as part of my condition and have lots of excessive/irrational fears around germs and illness. One of the (many) ways that this affects me is that I cannot bare to prepare or even have other people prepare raw meat in the kitchen.

I am working through therapy on facing this fear and wondered how cautious everyone else is when preparing raw meat- do you:

• Wipe the sides down after for example sticking chicken fillets in the oven or do you just bung them in and ignore any spills?
• Avoid touching the oven/other ingredients with raw meat still on your hands or would you just go around touching the other ingredients and the oven without thinking about it?
• Put any chopping boards/knives that you've used on raw meat straight into the dishwasher or do you leave them lying around or wash them up by hand?
• Wash your hands for 20 seconds after handling meat? or just a quick rinse? And would you wipe the taps afterwards or try to avoid touching the tap with stuff on your fingers or just not think about it?

Also, have you ever had food poisoning after eating food that you've prepared?

I do pretty much what you just outlined - except I wash my hands quite quickly. I thought all that was just basic kitchen hygiene?

I dont have OCD but I dont touch raw meat

I open the package of the meat, whatever it is, pick it up with a fork.

If I need to put it in the pan whole I do that, if not, I hold it up with the fork in one hand and cut it with scissors with the other

I dont touch the raw meat and all of this is done over the pan so there are no spills.

A joint of meat would be taken out of its packaging with big fork and knife (the carving fork or knife).

I dont touch anything. I just dont like the thought of it

I would wipe down the surfaces and put the chopping board straight in the sink, then wash my hands before handling other food/utensils etc. I keep a clean house but am far from OCD!

I’m very careful with raw meat; I do wipe surfaces down and wash immediately and wipe taps and so forth.

But I wouldn’t necessarily take this thread as statistically useful, because it seems unlikely that people who are really careless/relaxed about this stuff would even click on this thread, let alone reply.

I do what you’ve listed and I’m not especially obsessive or compulsive. Big sink of soapy water and clean hands, utensils and chopping boards as I go. Wipe down surfaces as soon as meat goes in pan/oven.

Wipe the sides down after for example sticking chicken fillets in the oven or do you just bung them in and ignore any spills?

Spray and wipe everything down, hot washed dishcloth or kitchen roll. I always wipe more area than I think could be splashed.

Avoid touching the oven/other ingredients with raw meat still on your hands or would you just go around touching the other ingredients and the oven without thinking about it?

Avoid touching anything. I wash wash wash when touching raw meats. My DH use to be terrible for this and I would go mad.

Put any chopping boards/knives that you've used on raw meat straight into the dishwasher or do you leave them lying around or wash them up by hand?

Scrub and clean in between.everything is washed with hot soapy water in between uses. I will also wash before putting in the dishwasher.

Wash your hands for 20 seconds after handling meat? or just a quick rinse? And would you wipe the taps afterwards or try to avoid touching the tap with stuff on your fingers or just not think about it?

Wash wash wash, lots of soap and hot water. Everything cleared down. I tend to use kitchen roll for wiping my hands when cooking, especially when I’m handling raw meats rather than a hand or kitchen towel, that way it’s thrown straight away.

You don’t need to have ocd to do this. It’s basic hygiene ensuring no cross contamination. My DF was a butcher and when it came to hygiene around meat he was very strict. I also have gastro problems and have had food poisoning too many times, since I went nuts at my DH for his lack of food hygiene when cooking I’ve not been sick once.

Did OP mean wiping down the inside of the oven if chicken fluids spill in there -- it's like 400 degrees F. No germ can survive that.

I'm intrigued by people who handle or chop raw meat. We manage to cook meat from raw while avoiding ever handling raw meat. I handle outside of packaging & dump the meat into a cooking space. Then it's cooked inside that pot or pan. My hands and utensils have zero contact with raw meat. Only the pot and pan (which is heated hot enough to kill germs).

If I pour a little oil on a whole raw chicken, I tilt the pan a bit to spread the oil about. We may have a brush, but don't bother to find it.

I still wash my hands (perfunctory brief) after handling the packaging, or if I brush the outside of a raw sausage, that kind of thing.

The only time one of us was sick from food we made (~24 years ago)
was DH reheated/ate some 3-days-old rice -- he won't touch brown rice now.

ps: we buy casserole or mince, we don't have reasons to chop raw meat.

I’m not too fussed about beef but I’m careful with chicken. Use a fork to lift it from packet to pan … then I cook it before cutting it up with scissors.

@Movingonup22

I do everything you’ve said and I don’t have ocd

same here,

We're having Somerset Pork tonight.

@LoudingVoice

I do everything you said, that’s just standard food hygiene isn’t it?

I think most people would do the same, are you concerned that they wouldn’t?

I agree, it's basic food hygiene. We have taps with a lever so I can turn them on using the side of my hand and not with my fingers that have touched the raw meat. Like wise the soap is liquid in a pump container so I use my other side of hand to get that and then wash my hands fully. If I need to handle a chicken covered knife handle or chopping board, I'll open the dishwasher with clean hands, put the dirty stuff in and wash hands again.

My completely honest answers as someone who used to cook professionally.

Wipe the sides down after for example sticking chicken fillets in the oven or do you just bung them in and ignore any spills?
There wouldn’t be any spills on the side, but if I splashed meat juices somewhere yes I would clean it up.

Avoid touching the oven/other ingredients with raw meat still on your hands or would you just go around touching the other ingredients and the oven without thinking about it?
Depends, if everything is destined for one pan I’d give my hands a quick rinse and carry on working (at home not professionally)

If I was handling raw meat and then something unrelated I’d put everything in the dishwasher / dirty side of the sink unless I need to reuse it then I’d hand wash and yes I would wipe down.

Put any chopping boards/knives that you've used on raw meat straight into the dishwasher or do you leave them lying around or wash them up by hand

Dishwasher if I don’t need to reuse. By hand if I do. I don’t always do it immediately, if the dishwasher is closed I’ll leave them on the dirty side of the sink until there’s a few bits, I will clean the dirty side of the sink when I have finished cooking.

Wash your hands for 20 seconds after handling meat? or just a quick rinse? And would you wipe the taps afterwards or try to avoid touching the tap with stuff on your fingers or just not think about it?

I almost never wash my hands for 20 seconds, for me a thorough hand wash is about the process and routine of it knowing I’ve got everywhere, not the time, and if you cook professionally your hands would be a right state if you took that long every time.

I wouldn’t automatically wipe the taps after a job unless I know I’d contaminated them. I do wipe them after I’ve finished cooking though

What you are doing regarding raw meat is not OCD. It's just good hygienic practices.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

I use kitchen scissors to cut meat straight into the pan so it eliminates the need for chopping on a board. I keep one hand for holding meat and the other clean so I can turn on taps etc. Everything straight in the dishwasher and wash hands afterwards.

I use scissors too for chopping meat. I hold the meat over the pan and chop it up like that, so no need for a chopping board. Have special raw meat scissors which go straight into the dishwasher. Then I wash my hand without touching anything else. Never had food poisoning.

i wipe down the surfaces and spray dettol just in case i missed a droplet of meat juices.

Oh and for one of our favourite dishes, I actually work the chicken with my hands, to cover it in flour and what not.

I don't have OCD, I came in from taking he kids to the park today and realised I'd prepped a meal without washing my hands.
However I do everything that you do with ta meat (well white meat and pork anyway), the rates of nasty bacteria from supermarket chicken etc is quite high. In fact I give my hands a 20 second wash after touching the packet. We have a hot tap and I also rinse everything like scissors under that briefly so it effectively cooks the chicken that's sticking to it

It always drives me nuts when I watch a cookery programme with Jamie Oliver or James Martin or similar and they handle raw chicken and then just wipe their hands on a tea towel and chuck it down on the side and carry on cooking and chopping with their chicken-juicy fingers.

I don't have OCD. I do use disposable gloves around a lot of food because I'm immune-suppressed. I don't care what people think. I've had Salmonella in the past and it was horrendous - I certainly don't want to go through that while my immune cells aren't firing on all cylinders.

I do everything you do (washing up by hand though), and spray all surfaces with antibacterial spray and leave it for 30 seconds before I wipe.

It’s not due to my OCD (the very clean/always washing hands is a tiny part of the diagnosis & I’ve never done it!). It’s because I have food preparation qualifications from one of my many jobs & it has become a habit! 30 seconds contact, then wipe!

I do all that. It's standard good food hygiene. Kitchen tap has a lever so I can turn it on with my wrist.

chicken-juicy fingers

Ugh, I couldn't do that, can't stand having sticky fingers!

Wipe the sides down after for example sticking chicken fillets in the oven or do you just bung them in and ignore any spills?. I don’t usually spill anything, but would wipe down with disinfectant if I did.

Avoid touching the oven/other ingredients with raw meat still on your hands or would you just go around touching the other ingredients and the oven without thinking about it? Avoid, I wash hands handle raw meat, and then wash hands directly after handling raw meat.

Put any chopping boards/knives that you've used on raw meat straight into the dishwasher or do you leave them lying around or wash them up by hand? immediately wash by hand. I also have separate chopping board for raw meat that is only used for raw meat.

Wash your hands for 20 seconds after handling meat? or just a quick rinse?. Yes wash hands immediately.

And would you wipe the taps afterwards or try to avoid touching the tap with stuff on your fingers or just not think about it?. I use elbow to turn on the tap so as not to transfer raw meat juice to the taps.

Put stuff with raw meat on straight into the dishwasher. Make sure the dishwasher already has a tablet in. Any spills - wipe with an antibac wipe for speed. Smearing raw meat spills over the kitchen/taps is just poor food hygiene.

I don’t touch taps with meaty hands - I either put them on with my wrist or ask anyone hanging around (teens/h) to put tap on.

I tend to wash raw meat hands in fairy liquid. Dry on kitchen roll if worried. Could use carex afterwards if really worried.

If further worried use food safe disposable gloves.

I wash my hands with soap and water before preparing food, and again after handling raw meat. I am careful not to spill, but would clean the surface around where I waa preparing the meat afterwards anyway. I wouldn't touch other utensils or food until I'd washed my hands, and would flip the tap on using my wrist or the back of my hand to avoid touching it with my fingers.

I am very much not a germophobe and am otherwise quite a slattern, but I'm pretty careful about raw meat, especially chicken. I don't worry about it in the slightest though - my hygiene methods are habit, so I don't really give them much thought. I've had food poisoning twice, both times from seafood eaten at restaurants.

I wipe side down after, wash board and knife, wash hands,…. general hygiene to me and I don’t have ocd.