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?

Well I've survived the first 14 hours without any symptoms of food poisoning.

DH didn't apologise, he just shouted at me for being angry with him.

There is plenty of counter space and he could easily have taken a clean board and clean knife. He could even asked me whether the used board and knife was OK to use again. But he just made a thoughtless lazy choice which is why I was so annoyed.

The knife I used for the chicken was not well suited to cut bread (too small) but that didn't seem to occur to him either.

@Chickenandbread How about, for the sake of harmony, fairness and maturity, you meet DH halfway and admit that perhaps you both made a mistake and could move forward by learning from it? Discuss better strategies for working together in the kitchen and basic expectations for food safety and hygiene. Discuss creating a system that minimises risks of cross contamination. Then no one feels blamed, under attack, or the need to be defensive.

It is possible for someone to not notice that the knife had been used for cutting chicken. If his eyesight is not great he might mistake tiny bits of chicken for tiny bits of bread. Maybe he thought it was the knife and board previously used for cutting bread. Who knows? He’s not you. He didn’t see things or do things the way you would have and that’s ok. People make mistakes.

You say he didn’t ask you. Well you could have just as easily have told him. You could have drawn his attention to the board and knife and said to him that it was used for raw meat and don’t use it for anything else. That’s called communication.

Neither of you have communicated particularly well with each other. You both could do a bit better there.

You both made mistakes. We all do. You owe your DH an apology for getting angry at him for making a mistake and admit that you should have washed the knife and board (or at least put it in sink or dishwasher or some designated space for things that can’t be touched or used). Your DH owes you an apology for accidentally using a contaminated knife and board and for getting angry at you.

I have a dedicated meat board but for chicken or bacon I use scissors and put them straight in the dishwasher.

@ImustLearn2Cook she didn't make a mistake. He's not blind, nor is he a small child. He was too lazy to get a clean knife out. This isn't a commercial kitchen where you might not see something being used - this is a home kitchen where one adult used a knife and board to make the dinner currently being eaten, and the other adult was too bone idle to get a clean, more appropriate knife out to cut bread.

Like fuck should OP apologise to a man exercising weaponised incompetence. He should be apologising and taking some time to reflect on why he took out his incompetence on the wife that had just cooked his dinner for him.

And incidentally, how can you square using obviously used items as an accident? Have you ever accidentally used a knife recently used to cut chicken? I know I haven't. It's quite obvious it's been used for that. Beef it might not be, but chicken leaves a slimy coating.

Who cares what chefs do!!!

Im a home cook, scissors are easier to use for me than a knife due to a disability anyway but even if it wasnt, its up to me how I chop up my chicken, its not about 'hygiene points' FFS!!!

I would wash the chicken board and knife straight after using it.
He made a mistake, and hopefully nobody died. Neither was unreasonable but I'd just avoid it by cleaning the board immediately.

Op is also an idiot. Who leaves a raw chicken chopping board on the side??

DH didn't apologise, he just shouted at me for being angry with him.

Is he usually an angry wanker? I think you may have bigger problems.

Why would the juices get inside the scissor handles? I cut all meat with scissors, I’ve never used a chopping board. I can’t see the point in contaminating extra surfaces when it’s not necessary.

"FFS"? How defensive you are! And how aggressive.

Anyway, above is a perfect example of a poster claiming extra hygiene points for not using a chopping board.

No one is claiming 'hygiene points' give your head a shake!!

I dont use a chopping board, it means another surface does not need washing up for meats.

We use poultry shears which you can take apart to clean. They're wonderful for butchery portioning as well

He made a mistake - we all make them. Wanted to get bread cut quickly because the food is hot. And why should he know a board sitting on the work top is dirty? He is, presumably, not psychic, and also did not see the chicken being cut. OP made an error, the board ought to have been washed as soon as she had finished with it (which is what I do). She ought to apologise. They don't seem to have a very good relationship is all I can say - and though it is possible to get salmonella poisoning from a knife used to cut chicken it is pretty unlikely in these circumstances. I hope OP washed her hands in between cutting up the chicken and (not) washing the board and knife (lazy) and touching anything else!
He ought to apologise for shouting (probably worried about salmonella too, and annoyed not told the board was dirty!).

Have you never cut chicken @Grammarnut? If you haven't, and it doesn't get cut (by a utensil of your choosing) in your home, then I would get why you might not know.

But if you have ever cut chicken, you will know it does not leave either knife or board looking clean. And arguing that it does, and that finding a bread knife might have made his food cool down too much, is just defending an - at best - thoughtless man. And the reason he shouted, in my humble opinion, is because he knows he's in the wrong.

As an aside - I asked my three children if they'd know if a knife and board had been used to prep chicken, and they were all able to work through logically that if it's on the side and dinner is dished up - it's used. And if it's specifically chicken? They've all prepped chicken before so were aghast a grown adult wouldn't be able to tell using his own two eyeballs.

Not to mention - what sort of chicken prep knife is also a bread cutting knife?!

So to add on - no, a fully functioning adult human being with eyeballs does not need to be psychic to know a board and knife has been used. And there's nothing from OP's posts to suggest he isn't a fully functioning adult human.

Omg 🤮 raw meat of any description is gross on bread like that but chicken is actually dangerous! Jes massively wrong!

Having once suffered campylobacter from a meal out and being severely ill for 2 months YANBU. Poor hygiene surrounding the preparation of chicken is extremely serious.

I would say your DH's fault, it sounds obvious the chicken board was 'in play'

I always wash the board and knife in hot water and washing up liquid as soon as I’ve cut up chicken. I then use it to cut everything else.

YANBU! This is such a pet peeve of mine and also that’s good kitchen hygiene. Every time I use anything that touches raw meat it goes straight into the dishwasher. It’s an honest mistake from him but the fact that he didn’t think it was a big deal would have made me stressed out!

Chipping board and knife would have been put in the dishwasher not left on the side. Then there's no mistakes

I do put the meat board straight into the sink once used. Generally wash it up straight away too. Partly because we are a mix of veggies and meat eaters but also I would anyway.

So I think that would have been ideal from OP’s side.

However, I think her husband was unreasonable as it sounds like it had obviously been used for chicken and that’s very unhygienic. I’m also really surprised you weren’t ill!

I'm sorry but your husband is a moron

The rule in our house. Cut the chicken on meat board in the meat preparing area of the kitchen. Transfer to a bowl. Board and knife straight in the sink and washed with hot soapy water and then straight into the dishwasher. Meat preparing area cleaned straight away. As soon as meat removed from bowl straight into hot soapy water.

Leaving a board and knife out after preparing meat on it is disgusting and on you!

Yes, DH should have spotted the manky board but I also think you were in the wrong for leaving the board to fester instead of chucking it in the sink or dishwasher.