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?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor
Yeah but I often forget and leave it out too, and never ever been ill

[quote savehannah]@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor
Yeah but I often forget and leave it out too, and never ever been ill[/quote]
I think it's one of those things that is 99% ok most of the time but the 1% it isn't it's really serious.

@Recycledblonde

I don’t do any of the precautions you’ve listed, I’m 58 and none of my family have ever had food poisoning.

Same here. I don't like chicken so never buy it but I do cook pheasant, partridge and pigeon and don't do any of these things. I'm 62 and never had food poisoning either.

@Sosigsandwich

Surely no one touches raw meat and then just continues touching things?!

It would never occur to me to do anything on the OP's list. Never had food poisoning.

I have OCD and am also a microbiologist. To be honest, I'm quite laissez faire with raw meat and I've never had food poisoning from anything I've prepared, had it half a dozen times from restaurants though. I chop it on it's own board which I then wash along with the knife (or scissors as I often cut with them), if my hands are chickeny i rinse them off before touching other stuff, but everything just gets washed up as normal and I'm definitely not disinfecting the surface near the chopping board if the meat wasn't directly on it.

I don't have OCD and do everything you've mentioned. It's just good kitchen hygiene I would have thought.
I've also had campylobacter. That might have encouraged me to be pretty scrupulous with handling raw chicken!

Surely no one touches raw meat and then just continues touching things?!

It would never occur to me to do anything on the OP's list. Never had food poisoning.

You don't wash your hands? Do you wash your hands after using the loo?

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

Sides of what? What spills?! Put chicken on baking tray. Wash hands. Put baking tray in oven. Wash anything else the raw chicken touches (e.g. chopping board). That's it.

- 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?

It's perfectly fine to touch other ingredients providing they're about to be cooked at a high temperature. For example, chop some beef, chop some onions, chuck in pan, then wash hands, chopping board etc.

- 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?

I wash them by hand usually, but that's just my preference for chopping boards and knives. If I wanted to put it in the dishwasher I would.

- 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 flick the tap on using the back of my hand or something that hasn't been in contact with meat. Wash with soap and hot water until clean (this can take much longer if you've been rolling fatty meatballs or shaping burgers for example, rather than just picking up a steak or bit of chicken).

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

No, but the OH had a bad case after eating leftover rice that hadn't been handled appropriately. Learnt a lesson that day!

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Surely no one touches raw meat and then just continues touching things?!

It would never occur to me to do anything on the OP's list. Never had food poisoning.

You don't wash your hands? Do you wash your hands after using the loo?

Eh? What has going to the loo got to do with this?

I'm actually now vegetarian because I increasingly found meat and fish to be rather repulsive to eat. The only time I had food poisoning was from pheasant meat my family member had used in a stew; they had got this bird from a friend and I don't think the meat had been handled properly - I had never felt so ill in my life. But when I do prepare it to help my partner I instantly handwash any utensils and chopping boards after use and wash my hands instantly with hot soapy water before touching anything else, then anti-bac spray the surfaces. I don't have OCD but I have always been very mindful of food hygiene and I would hope that ANYONE would be so mindful and hygienic.

KimikosNightmare

I'd expect someone who doesn't think washing hands after handling raw meat is important to have really low standards of hygiene such as not washing hands after the loo.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

KimikosNightmare

I'd expect someone who doesn't think washing hands after handling raw meat is important to have really low standards of hygiene such as not washing hands after the loo.

Oh give over.

Yes, by MN standards I've got low standards.

I also let cats sit on the table. I once retrieved a pheasant which was left out to defrost and which one of the cats had pushed off the kitchen island. Went into the oven at 200C.

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

Never. I also ignore use by dates.

I put the knife and chopping board straight into the dishwasher, wash my hands with soap and water etc. I definitely wouldn't touch the oven or other ingredients without washing my hands after preparing chicken or pork. If anything gets on the worktops while I'm preparing them, I wipe the work top with my usual kitchen cleaning spray and kitchen paper, rather than a cloth. And yes, I wipe the taps.

I've never had food poisoning from any food I've prepared myself. Or food prepared in anyone else's home, as far as I'm aware. I have had food poisoning twice from undercooked food in a restaurant and from contaminated shellfish, also in a restaurant. Obviously that wasn't great, but it was over pretty quickly and no damage done.

Mumsnet is not the best place to ask this OP as everyone will virtue signal about how clean they are! So so many people are slapdash and slapdash is the way to recovery from OCD! I know because I have it.

I open the pack, pick up the meat with a plastic food bag on my hand, cut it with scissors into the pan or slow cooker pot etc, then wipe the scissors on damp kitchen paper and put them in the dishwasher. Bag goes in bin. Would never dream of washing meat, where on earth did that daft idea come from? Also do not use any chopping boards etc for meat. You could also use latex gloves I suppose.

@SheWoreYellow

I am only really careful with raw chicken.

I’d wash my hands briefly before touching anything else and leave stuff on the side to then go in the dishwasher.

I’d use a chopping board so the worktop wouldn’t need wiping.

If I was then cooking the other ingredients I am not careful. Eg I’d chop veg on the chicken-y board for a stir fry. This isn’t good practice for a commercial kitchen, but it’s fine at home.

Oh god why do you do this?! Chop veg on a separate board because you’re contaminating it with raw chicken then adding to a stir fry that you probably won’t cook for alot longer to kill the bacteria. If it isn’t good in a commercial kitchen, don’t do it at home either!!

Oh yuk, the thought of people voluntarily eating raw chicken ..... puke.

I keep the bin open and close to me, and I tend to prepare meat close to the sink, with any bowls needed close by, so not dripping all over the kitchen. I just make sure everything is handy and soap is ready, hand towel, etc.
I have spontex gloves for making burgers etc with, to avoid getting bits under nails, although I do use a nail brush sometimes (usually from gardening!).
If I'm prepping meat with bare hands, I wash every time I touch it again, but generally, I prepare spices etc before, so minimal touching of anything. My tap is one of those I can push with my wrist to turn on.
I wash knives straight away and boards, unless the dishwasher is ready, then I chuck it in there (use plastic ones for meat, rather than my wooden board. I know that's contentious. But mainly because I use the wooden one so much for salads, I just try and have separates for meat, which I think is just sensible. Just happens that my meat ones are plastic).
Always dettol the sides where I've prepared food, whether it's veggie or not.

And no, I've never had food poisoning from my own cooking - with the exception of green beans (had no idea they were poisonous raw, so technically not cooked ).
I wouldn't say I'm over cautious, I just follow basic food hygiene! I also always wash hands BEFORE prepping food.

I use a chopping board and knife

Wash my hands in hot water when I’ve finished, i do not touch anything else until my hands are washed, if i need to transfer the meat i was my hands afterwards

I rinse the chopping board and knife in hot water and then leave them in bleach for a while before transferring it to the dishwasher

Its mainly chicken, occasionally beef but I’m much less like to touch the beef

I don’t eat meat myself so that probably partly explains it

I use a specific chopping board for raw meat, open meat packets on that board, rinse those packets under running water before recycling. Wash both my hands and the chopping board once I'm done. I'm not terribly fussy about hygiene tbh.

DH does all the cooking and is generally cautious with raw meat, however he is particularly cautious around chicken. He’d always do the things you said though, wipes benches, washes hands, we don’t have a dishwasher so we usually have a hot bowl of washing up water on the go. He uses a red chopping board for meat. He’s not absolutely anal about it but generally careful. We’ve never had food poisoning from his cooking. I think there’s a middle ground.

Since you're asking, I'll happily admit to being a bit slap dash about it all.

I'd wash my hands quickly after handling the actual raw meat. I'd use a tea towel to dry them and wipe any spills (never really had much are you waving a chicken breast around your head??!!) and that would go into the wash. After I'd finished cooking I'd wipe down the sides with antibac and kitchen paper. Anything I used would be chucked in dishwasher.

As long as you wash your hands so that you're not transferring raw juice to every single surface, you're taking care of the main cause of illness.

Never given myself food poisoning from handling raw meat.

I tend to prepare everything first and the meat last to reduce the cleaning and hand washing etc. I tend to spice the chicken in its plastic container and chuck it straight in the bin afterwards. I don't specifically wipe the bin after this (it gets cleaned once a week), nor do I bag up the plastic tray before putting in the bin.

Once meet is prepared, I put chopping board, knife everything to the side and wash up properly once food is in the oven / on hob etc as I don't have a dishwasher. I think that's good enough for cleaning the sink too as I don't do anything else afterwards.

I always try and keep one hand "uncontaminated" to use spice / salt shaker etc and the other one to touch the meat with and I always wash my hand afterwards with soap and water and wipe surfaces off with all purpose cleaner when I'm done.

I certainly don't go over the top, I don't disinfect the sink and if I do occasionally have to use my hands between preparing chicken and other bits, I just rinse hands quickly with hot water. We have meat most days and I do cook mostly from scratch and never had an issue.