AIBU or is DH? Cooking and food hygiene.

[Chickenandbread]

I cooked dinner this evening. One of the ingredients was chicken. I diced it on a separate chopping board with a separate knife. Veg and other dry ingredients that needed chopping were done on a different board with a different knife. In my view this is normal and basic food hygiene.

Sat down to eat in the dining room. I hadn't cleared everything up from the kitchen counter yet. DH wanted some crusty bread to go with his meal so he went into the kitchen to cut some and brought me a slice too.

After we'd finished eating I went back into the kitchen and saw he'd used the dirty chicken board and knife to slice the bread. I was angry with him for using an obviously dirty board and knife. He was angry with me for being angry with him.

AIBU or is DH?

Yabu for not putting the dirty chopping board and knife in the sink. I never leave chicken infected items lying on the worktop after prepping food

In our house you would have been fine to leave the veg chopping board out. But we have an unspoken rule that you wash raw chicken board and knife immediately so that no one uses it.

You both need to brush up on your food hygiene. Leaving a raw meat board and wrapper out when you’re finished makes it really easy to contaminate cooked food or food that won’t be cooked eg salad. It’s so easy for something to brush against it if it’s still on the worktop! Equally cutting bread on a board when you’re not sure what it was used for previously is also a terrible choice.

As soon as I’ve used a knife/scissors/chopping board whatever for raw meat or fish I put them in the sink and drizzle washing up liquid on so they absolutely cannot be used again.

I usually stick mine in the sink with a spray of washing up liquid and scald it with boiling water.

But he's an absolute thick if he couldn't have seen that the board was used for raw chicken!

Being completely honest he sounds like an idiot but you sound quite dramatic. We put them to wash right away but if DH did this I wouldn’t be angry or at least not angry enough to post it on Mumsnet- I’d just call him an idiot! I hope both of you stay well though.

You should have cleaned down the chicken board. Takes 10 secs.

I will use the same board and knife if I can chop veggies first, then chicken, but never bread on a used raw meat board!

It is advised in food safety and handling to wash your hands immediately after handling raw meat before handling other foods. So, if you are washing your hands at the kitchen sink while cooking and preparing food then it is easy enough to bring the utensils with you to wash at the same time.

You are firstly unreasonable to eat chicken, which is almost as disgusting as turkey.
After that, it is only in the past 25 years or so that people have started blaming chicken for illness.
Firstly, where did the chicken come from?
Secondly, did anyone preparing it wash their hands beforehand (big rule in my house before cooking or even eating. Time to wash your hands before lunch is a signal that lunch will be on the table in 5 minutes).
Thirdly, do not stress, unless you all come down with some unexplained gastro illness.

You shouldn't have left a chicken board and knife lying around in the first place.
Raw chicken stuff gets a Milton spray and straight under running water here
Your H should have checked the board as well though

Why did he do this, though? Did you ask? Did he not know chicken had been chopped on the board? Or did he know, but think it was fine?

I can’t get rid of the chopping board and knife fast enough after I’ve been chopping chicken or meat. Partly because my DP would be a likely candidate to do the same thing as your DH. And partly because I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about all the bacteria multiplying at room temperature while I ate my chicken stir fry. So I’m on the fence with this. You should have at least chucked the board and knife in the sink. He should have paid attention to what he was slicing the bread on🤢

Yanbu OP. I do the same with raw meats, especially chicken. I do however think YABU for not clearing up the "raw utensils" straight after prep.

Yabu

I got told off about this sort of thing by OH when we started going out together. His flat was a bit scruffy but his kitchen was immaculate. He could makeca meal and you'd hardly know anything had been used. He tided and cleaned as he went. It would only take a moment to have given the board and knife a clean. Once you're in the habit you hardly notice doing it.

Don't leave work surfaces dirty or clutered.

Meant to add I would have washed it straight away after using it

I'm not usually dramatic but I really do not want campylobacter due to DH.

I honestly cannot believe DH is so blind he didn't notice the residue nor just take a clean board and a clean bread kmife out.

I accept it would have been better to put it in the dishwasher or wash it up straight away but it is Friday evening, its been a long week, and I was just looking forward to a nice meal so I left it.

I never leave any chopping boards out on the side. Dishwasher is loaded as food is prepped.

I am severely immune suppressed and they can’t emphasise enough the dangers of coming into contact with raw meat. And chicken is by far the worst.

Your DH is unreasonable. Why on earth would he just pick up a knife by an empty chicken packet with bits of raw chicken and use that to cut bread! Without even washing it! That’s just super careless and I’d be pissed that he hadn’t paid better attention to that. That could make you both sick.

Is he not aware of the different boards and knives for chicken/veg, is the difference not clear enough so really he thought it was the veg board and knife he was using for the bread?

To the posters criticising your hygiene, sorry but depending on the kind of dish you’re making, you can’t always clean up immediately as you go because the food you’ve just put on might start burning!

@PaddlingSwan That is absolutely not true at all! I worked as a kitchen hand when I was young and studying a little over 30 years ago. And we had to have a food handlers certificate (Aus). The risks associated with raw chicken were well known then. I also, remember learning about it from my mum when I was a kid. So, it has been quite a bit longer than the past 25 years that we have known that raw chicken can make people ill.

how can you make a pocket for stuffing or garlic butter with scissors? or slice meat thinly?

Good grief that’s grim. Absolute BS he ‘didn’t know’ it had been used for chicken, it would have had chicken bits on it. Not a chance my DH would have done that, or my 13 year old for that matter!

YADNBU.

He's wrong, but you should clear up raw meat packets/chopping boards/knifes immediately no matter how large your kitchen. I personally do this straight away like many other PPs

this.