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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU or is DH? Cooking and food hygiene.

206 replies

Chickenandbread · 08/08/2025 20:41

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?

OP posts:
Katemax82 · 09/08/2025 19:36

Wouldn't he have needed a bread knife to cut crusty bread? How can you get bread with a meat knife???

chatgptsbestmate · 09/08/2025 19:51

DH is a moron

You're disgusting for not cleaning the meat board immediately

HTH

Katemax82 · 09/08/2025 20:16

Sorry can I ask what knife you used to cut the chicken? This would be the deal breaker for me. If you used a sharp smooth knife then dh should have used a bread knife...or did you use a serrated meat knife ( I've not seen one in my sons chef knife set so dont know if anyone uses them)

cramptramp · 09/08/2025 20:21

I couldn’t care less about this. I don’t use separate knives or chopping boards for anything. Never had food poisoning, still alive.

Beammeupscotty2025 · 09/08/2025 20:28

@cramptramp I contracted campylobacter from a takeaway chicken dish and I’ve been paranoid ever since!

Seperate board and designated clear no clutter workspace for all meat and fish preparation.

I was in a deli the other day and the server went from handling raw sausages to cutting cheese I nearly had a melt down. Told him no way I was buying anything from him!

Isinglass20 · 09/08/2025 20:40

Oh groan. Are we back in 50s with wifey in the kitchen with frilly apron full makeup and crimped hair.
First world problem. Can’t think it’s ever crossed my mind about the super hygienic cleaning of a board used for fresh meats.
Our food standards in UK are highest in the world. We’ve not been subject yet to the US sanitised chicken.
I really don’t think there is any contamination on boards used to chop UK produced meat. On grounds of the aesthetics that other products could pick up the taste of what the board was previously used for is different and providing the board is washed hygienically think this is overreaction.
And you can be too clean , the reason why children develop eczema and do not develop antibodies to resist infection.

FunMustard · 09/08/2025 21:59

I'm sorry @Chickenandbread I'm firmly in your camp here but I'm going to have to hide your thread because it's actually making me angry now, just how many people are willing to assign blame to you.

Good luck, hope he grows out of the weaponised incompetence.

Beammeupscotty2025 · 09/08/2025 22:22

Isinglass20 · 09/08/2025 20:40

Oh groan. Are we back in 50s with wifey in the kitchen with frilly apron full makeup and crimped hair.
First world problem. Can’t think it’s ever crossed my mind about the super hygienic cleaning of a board used for fresh meats.
Our food standards in UK are highest in the world. We’ve not been subject yet to the US sanitised chicken.
I really don’t think there is any contamination on boards used to chop UK produced meat. On grounds of the aesthetics that other products could pick up the taste of what the board was previously used for is different and providing the board is washed hygienically think this is overreaction.
And you can be too clean , the reason why children develop eczema and do not develop antibodies to resist infection.

The men in my house do just as much cooking as the women!

Timeforabitofpeace · 09/08/2025 22:30

There is 100% a contamination possibility with raw meat. It’s a FACT, not an opinion. That said, I wouldn’t leave a raw meat board out, but put it in the sink.

https://www.food.gov.uk/research/behaviour-and-perception/reusing-a-chopping-board-after-preparing-meat-fish-and-poultry

suburburban · 09/08/2025 22:31

Yanbu

it is basic hygiene

Another time could you move the dirty board away from the counter or into hot soapy water so this stops this happening

DiscoBob · 09/08/2025 22:59

missmollygreen · 09/08/2025 12:33

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

Show quote history

Either neither are U or both are. It's not one person's fault really.

Hopingtobeaparent · 10/08/2025 09:10

Hmmm… raw chicken bread - yum! Glad you’re ok. Obviously very minor exposure, but his lack of awareness is concerning. And his lack of being able to own it as unwise and gross.

I can understand the desire to not want to create more washing up. Veg board would have been ok probably, depending on what had been cut on it.

Could he understand once his ego had calmed down?

Separate boards for raw meat and fish, the rest can share. Generally good practice to have a bread only board.

ThatWhiteElephant · 10/08/2025 09:19

maybein2022 · 08/08/2025 20:57

I have a rule that whenever I’ve finished using a board/knife for raw meat, if I can’t immediately wash it up I put it in the sink and squirt washing up liquid over it so it’s crystal clear it’s not to be used. If your DH didn’t know the board had been used for raw meat, YABU. If he did, and used it anyway, he is BU (and disgusting).

I do exactly this, squirt fairy over knife and board and leave in the sink, ready to be washed straight after dinner.

i would be putting the bread in the bin

pinkyredrose · 10/08/2025 10:26

Blueuggboots · 09/08/2025 18:09

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.

You should really use a separate board.

pinkyredrose · 10/08/2025 10:27

Isinglass20 · 09/08/2025 20:40

Oh groan. Are we back in 50s with wifey in the kitchen with frilly apron full makeup and crimped hair.
First world problem. Can’t think it’s ever crossed my mind about the super hygienic cleaning of a board used for fresh meats.
Our food standards in UK are highest in the world. We’ve not been subject yet to the US sanitised chicken.
I really don’t think there is any contamination on boards used to chop UK produced meat. On grounds of the aesthetics that other products could pick up the taste of what the board was previously used for is different and providing the board is washed hygienically think this is overreaction.
And you can be too clean , the reason why children develop eczema and do not develop antibodies to resist infection.

It's nothing to do with the 1950's ffs, it's basic food hygiene.

T1Dmama · 10/08/2025 10:35

You’re both wrong! When I cut chicken it comes straight out of the packing and into the pan, I cut it over the wok:pan etc with scissors straight in…. Scissors go straight into the hot water in sink….
If for some reason I am prepping using a chopping board, I throw meat into the pan and then wash up and clean the area it was prepared on. I do this before even starting on the vegetables!
I wouldn’t leave a contaminated chopping board or knife out on the side…. It would all be straight into hot soapy water! (Or if you have one straight in the dishwasher!
The thought of leaving raw meat juice around is gross to me.
Your husband not noticing and using the chopping board for bread is pretty vile! Lucky you both didn’t get really sick! Presumably if you hadn’t cleared anything there was bits of trimmed chicken on the board?? 🤮🤮

FunMustard · 10/08/2025 15:39

@pinkyredrose can you explain how, in a home kitchen, where you're currently eating the meal that has just been prepared, a visibly used board and knife not even on the same surface as your cooked food, require washing immediately as part of "basic food hygiene"?

Sure I get it in a commercial kitchen. I get it if you have cats or small children, or even disabled adults. But adults with full capacity?

I don't care if this is the way you prefer to operate in your home. But OP is being berated like this isn't squarely on her husband because of it.

And PS - don't come back to me with "what if I forget?" Because you and I both know that's a cop out to justify either defending an anonymous man or to berate the OP. And it's annoying.

suburburban · 10/08/2025 17:14

FunMustard · 10/08/2025 15:39

@pinkyredrose can you explain how, in a home kitchen, where you're currently eating the meal that has just been prepared, a visibly used board and knife not even on the same surface as your cooked food, require washing immediately as part of "basic food hygiene"?

Sure I get it in a commercial kitchen. I get it if you have cats or small children, or even disabled adults. But adults with full capacity?

I don't care if this is the way you prefer to operate in your home. But OP is being berated like this isn't squarely on her husband because of it.

And PS - don't come back to me with "what if I forget?" Because you and I both know that's a cop out to justify either defending an anonymous man or to berate the OP. And it's annoying.

I think it is good practice and if I’m preparing raw meat I will do this first then clean down and put the board in the sink or dishwasher .

you are right, it is how a commercial kitchen would operate

Cariadm · 10/08/2025 19:08

Chickenandbread · 08/08/2025 20:41

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?

'He was angry with me for being angry with him.'...typical male 'deflection' from the point and petty refusal to own up to the fact that you have made a valid point!!
Wish I had a tenner for every time I have read something similar on here!! 🙄😠

Oldraver · 10/08/2025 20:24

He shouldn't of gone it but equally you shouldn't of left the board out

I usually fill the utility sink up with hot soapy water and but chicken juiced things straight in

LBFseBrom · 10/08/2025 22:20

Oldraver · 10/08/2025 20:24

He shouldn't of gone it but equally you shouldn't of left the board out

I usually fill the utility sink up with hot soapy water and but chicken juiced things straight in

That first sentence is hilarious :-).

mathanxiety · 10/08/2025 22:30

Your DH has a death wish.

Hope you won't get sick, OP.

mathanxiety · 10/08/2025 22:34

Isinglass20 · 09/08/2025 20:40

Oh groan. Are we back in 50s with wifey in the kitchen with frilly apron full makeup and crimped hair.
First world problem. Can’t think it’s ever crossed my mind about the super hygienic cleaning of a board used for fresh meats.
Our food standards in UK are highest in the world. We’ve not been subject yet to the US sanitised chicken.
I really don’t think there is any contamination on boards used to chop UK produced meat. On grounds of the aesthetics that other products could pick up the taste of what the board was previously used for is different and providing the board is washed hygienically think this is overreaction.
And you can be too clean , the reason why children develop eczema and do not develop antibodies to resist infection.

If you really believed there was no contamination on boards used to cut British meat, then you'd eat raw British meat on a daily basis.

I've never read anything so funny and at the same time astonishing in all my years on MN.

Grammarnut · 11/08/2025 09:35

FunMustard · 09/08/2025 17:05

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?!

Anything with a serated edge will cut chicken and bread. And if the board has been left for some time (which it must have been since chicken is cooked and they are eating) then it will no longer show much sign of being used for chicken - unless you are untidy enough to leave the bits of fat etc cut off still on the board (which is beyond unhygeinic). I cut up chicken often. I wash the board straight away. So should OP.

suburburban · 11/08/2025 12:24

I use separate boards for meat, chicken and raw fish