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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not eat the BBQ food after...

151 replies

BBQBoke · 16/04/2022 16:20

...witnessing the hosts poor food hygiene?

The nice weather this weekend has meant I have been invited to the first BBQ of the year...happy days! Or it was until I saw the host pull the chicken fillets out of the fridge and pierce the packet open with a knife and then put the knife back in the drawer😱🤮 They then took the chicken out of the packet and put onto the BBQ and trickled some water over their hands - no soap! - and have just put some cutlery on the table from the same drawer they put the knife back into. I'm suddenly not feeling hungry now.

WIBU to make up an excuse to leave? Or suck it up and hope I don't end up with the shits?

OP posts:
Likeli · 16/04/2022 17:22

Oh no, Campylobacter is not fun and the potential complications of it (paralysis/arthritis/sepsis) are awful, wtf is wrong with some people?
I bet we’ll be busy in the microbiology lab next week ffs.
Do not eat the food.

dementedpixie · 16/04/2022 17:22

@alilstressed

I'm also thinking that the chicken was neither washed or seasoned before going on the grill!
I'd never wash chicken!
Icouldabeenalawyer · 16/04/2022 17:24

As someone who got food poisoning from chicken on a bbq, not cooked by myself, I'd leg it. 💩 🤢

drpet49 · 16/04/2022 17:24

** Oh god I wouldn't have even noticed.

We are too germ obsessed these days.**

^Me too

TurquoiseSwirl · 16/04/2022 17:24

Oh hell no!
You can’t contaminate all the food cutlery and then give everyone food poisoning. Probably friends with my MIL who wipes her raw chicken hands on the tea towel we use for dishes! I called her out, threw away the tea towel to wash and made her wash her hands and have refused to eat at their house since. Lots of posts about how they ate raw chicken as a child, didn’t wear a seatbelt etc and survived…..

TurquoiseSwirl · 16/04/2022 17:25

@alilstressed

I'm also thinking that the chicken was neither washed or seasoned before going on the grill!
It’s not advisable to wash chicken any more, as you actually splash the water all around and actually are more likely to get ill as you splash the water on the sink/you/clean cutlery drying next to the tap and then drip it on the work surface and floor etc
DeckTheHallsWithGin · 16/04/2022 17:27

It would bother me but I have three different digital food probes to make sure everything is cooked properly!

Likeli · 16/04/2022 17:34

“We are too germ obsessed these days”
What. The. Fuck.
With bloody good reason. Due to dodgy farming practices of recent years, the majority of raw chicken samples in this country now contain Campylobacter. The infectious dose is relatively high though so the risk in this situation is fairly low.
But Campylobacter infections can cause extraintestinal diseases involving the neurologic, pulmonary, immunologic and cardiac systems - It’s believed 30% of Guillian-Barre syndrome cases are caused by it. Personally I wouldn’t want to risk it. Confused

Whatsmyname100 · 16/04/2022 17:44

You must have your eyes closed to be making such a mess. It's absolutely gross to not wash the chicken.🤢 Why would anything be splashing around?

SuchAsSeals · 16/04/2022 17:45

Gross. I'd have sneakily wiped the plate and fork/knife, maybe pretend I'd dropped something on them for an excuse, or eaten something right off the BBQ that didn't require utensils to eat. I wouldn't want to accept future invitations either, OP.

middlingnot · 16/04/2022 17:48

Food Standards advice in the UK is not to wash chicken but they do do this in other countries/cultures. Of course, there's a safe way of doing it but it sounds like these people aren't too hygiene aware so I wouldn't trust their food in any case. Chicken needs to be cooked properly and needs some seasoning!

Disconipples · 16/04/2022 17:49

People are gross. My mum's food hygiene is like this. We usually refuse to eat there. I had D&V loads as a kid and always thought it was normal until having my own kids. She does the chicken hands on a tea towel thing 🤮

Fairislefandango · 16/04/2022 17:55

Oh god I wouldn't have even noticed.
We are too germ obsessed these days

^This.
Bit of a drip feed that you have food hygiene OCD, OP!

LoveSpringDaffs · 16/04/2022 17:56

@alilstressed

I'm also thinking that the chicken was neither washed or seasoned before going on the grill!
You shouldn't wash chicken!!!
Mydogmylife · 16/04/2022 18:05

@alilstressed

I'm also thinking that the chicken was neither washed or seasoned before going on the grill!
Don't wash chicken !
Waystation · 16/04/2022 18:07

My FIL/MIL would cook meat on the barbecue- then use the plate that had the raw meat on to serve the cooked food - I thought I was being clever when I swooped in with a clean plate just as it was about to be served - problem was FIL picked up the raw meat plate and poured the “juice” (blood) onto the cooked meat - I became a vegetarian.

Marvellousmadness · 16/04/2022 18:08

You dont have food hygiene Ocd. Stop using the ocd card. You don't have it. You just like to eat clean and not end up with salmonella. Ocd is a very serious mental conditoon that ruins lives. Think about what you are saying op

Sswhinesthebest · 16/04/2022 18:11

I’m not bothered about not washing the chicken but the knife and not washing hands would alarm me.
Yanbu op.

MrsMiddleMother · 16/04/2022 18:15

That sounds grim and I would have left tbh. The people who have no problems with it are GROSS

Babyvenusplant · 16/04/2022 18:16

@Waystation

My FIL/MIL would cook meat on the barbecue- then use the plate that had the raw meat on to serve the cooked food - I thought I was being clever when I swooped in with a clean plate just as it was about to be served - problem was FIL picked up the raw meat plate and poured the “juice” (blood) onto the cooked meat - I became a vegetarian.
Noooooo 😱
Original poster
BBQBoke · 16/04/2022 18:17

@Marvellousmadness

You dont have food hygiene Ocd. Stop using the ocd card. You don't have it. You just like to eat clean and not end up with salmonella. Ocd is a very serious mental conditoon that ruins lives. Think about what you are saying op
I have four different variations of OCD, I certainly wasn't making a joke about it. I'm well aware of the impact it has on sufferers as have been living with it for 20+ years.

Anyway I'm sticking to the gin tonight and hoping for the best.

OP posts:
jytdtysrht · 16/04/2022 18:18

Knife, hands and cutlery - all filthy, dirty, dangerous behaviour.

Very rude to say it to host.

So no win situation really.

godmum56 · 16/04/2022 18:22

I am pretty casual about food hygiene but I'd not eat his food. Envy not jealous

MrsTerryPratchett · 16/04/2022 18:23

I used to wash chicken when I worked in South London because no one would eat it otherwise. My experience was that the common argument against washing it, that the germs spread around, isn't relevant in the Caribbean kitchens I've been to because of the scrupulous cleaning. The mingers from the OP couldn't be trusted to wash it.

Still does bugger all to make the chicken itself more hygienic.

mum11970 · 16/04/2022 18:24

I wouldn’t have noticed or been that bothered to be honest.