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?

Im not a cleany cleany type of person, I wouldnt think to wash up things prior to eating, however I wouldnt chop up meat on a board, I never do that, I do it with scissors and I hold the meat with a fork in any case so I dont even touch it.

The fork and scissors goes in the sink to wait for someone to put them in the dishwasher.

I dont like the idea of raw meat on a chopping board for some reason.

I would be disgusted but also is there a chance he didn’t know? If I’m honest I would never have left the knife or chopping board out if it had been used for raw chicken, as I clean / wash up as I go along, and always sanitise the surfaces after handling raw meat.

My friend got salmonella with this same scenario. Hope none of you get unwell 🤞🏽

Did he know it was chickeny and do it anyway, or not realise. That changes things

Who even attempts to cuts bread with the same TYPE of knife you chop meat with? That chicken juice must have been ground in to the bread😱

I would also cut veg & meat on the same board if they were all going to be cooked together but weirdly I have to chop the veg first. Board into the dishwasher and a quick squirt of Dettox on the surrounding surface.

I suppose it depends how things work on your household but for us, if you chop raw meat on a board, that board immediately gets cleaned (and I’m quite a sloppy washer up). I wouldn’t leave a raw meat board on the side without at least mentioning it, bit grim. So not all on your husband.

Even real chefs in proper restaurants with hygiene ratings of 5/5 use chopping boards for meat. All you scissor users don't get extra hygiene points for being unskilled! I've seen people do it and it's cackhanded, slower and more dangerous than using a knife.

Everyone saying simply remove the chickeny things straight to the washing up are perfectly correct.

Yeah same here. I never really thought about it and we’re not Hygiene People but you just wouldn’t leave a chicken board out, so if someone did, the mistake could be made.

chicken and pork specific tho - I wouldn’t fret about beef or fish bread. It’s not Naice but I wouldn’t worry.

I've only had food poisoning once. On my birthday two years ago I wanted to go to a new restaurant. I had fish not chicken, after the initial severe illness was dismayed to find the bug relentlessly stubborn. After four weeks I contacted the GP who gave me some tablets so I didn't have to hang around the bathroom. I lost so much weight.

A friend of ours works at public health labs he said most food poisoning occurs when we eat food prepared outside the home. So there's some comfort in that.

Yeah mine was from a pub meal!
I’ve never poisoned myself with chicken at home before as I’m so so careful with it, everything in the sink with boiling hot soapy water
Now I can’t even eat a quorn nugget without retching

I don't think it's entirely his fault, I think you were unreasonable for leaving the dirty chicken board and knife out. I don't wash the dishes until after dinner, but anything with raw chicken is immediately washed/into the dishwasher and no way would I ever leave the packet on the bench either. Of course he should have noticed but maybe he thought you cut the chicken when it was cooked? I Hope you don't get sick!

I thnk you carry a bit of responsibility here, the raw meat used board and knife should not have been left out.

Honestly in our place we'd just wipe the board and knife and just re-use it to cut the bread and we've never had any issues.

I would wash it up straight away. Urghhh - chicken juice 😬 I would also wash the knife straightaway... and my hands

Is your DH saying that he didn't realise that he had used the board that you had used to cut up the chicken, despite the evidence of the empty chicken packaging and the bits of chicken on the knife, or is he saying that he knew that he was using the chicken board but that you are being unreasonably fussy and it will be fine?

I think that if it was the former, he would have apologised and been a bit concerned about food poisoning himself.

We both put anything in contact with raw meat into the sink with a dose of washing up liquid to show it’s not reusable be for it’s scrubbed

Sorry YABU!

anything with raw meat goes straight in the dishwasher - leaving it on the side (with the packet?!) is gross! Takes 2 seconds to put in the dishwasher (and packet in the bin!)

we never cut raw chicken on a board, we chop it into a bowl with sharp kitchen scissors for risottos, curries etc .

I'm very wary of raw meat. I cut it with scissors back into the container and then the scissors go in the dishwasher. My DP would quite happily do what you describe OP, he wouldn't be bothered.

You’re entitled to your opinion!

i prefer to work this way. It’s neither crack-handed nor slow. I don’t like the idea of meat being chopped on any board. If I have to chop meat I will do it on a plate, then put that in the dishwasher.

i don’t care how chefs do it; I’m not a chef.

Both are to blame tbh - any board that's been used for raw meat should immediately be put in basin/sink/dish washer, ideally rinsed down - unless you have specific colour coded boards it's possibly not obvious that raw meat was cut on there.

I cut straight into the frying pan, so it’s fridge, pan, cook, no mess anywhere.

I would have put it in the sink I hope,

I usually do that too, just because it's easier. I do occasionally use a board but it's clearly marked for meat and I deal with it immediately after I've finished with it.

I'm not a chef so I don't care. As long as the scissors are hygienically washed I can't see the problem.

Whilst I always wash the board and knife straight away the fact you left it there is irrelevant. Your DH should have used a clean knife and board to cut the bread as he didn’t known what either board/knife had been used for.

100% on him, does he normally get annoyed when you point out he’s wrong?

Both at fault I’m afraid.
Never leave raw meat / fish utensils in a position where they can inadvertently be used.
Never use obviously dirty utensils to prep items that aren’t going to be cooked.

Please be aware that you may still be ill; campylobacter & salmonella can take a while to build & affect us. Google the symptoms so you’re properly aware.

Just reading through the comments and honestly I am still gobsmacked that so many people are saying that maybe it's just a bit your fault OP.

I can only assume that many of you are unfortunate enough to live with the type of incompetent adults that would use an obviously used knife on bread that you're used to having to clear everything away lest they accidentally give you food poisoning. As an example - Never leave raw meat / fish utensils in a position where they can inadvertently be used. Seriously? Have you ever chopped chicken before? How is it not obvious the board and knife have been used?!

I still stand by my earlier comment that used items left out in the kitchen is not going to hurt you. Or at least, not in my house, where I don't live with idiots. Nor is it a commercial kitchen.