Food Safety

[kitchensqueen]

How strict or lenient are you with regard to food safety in your home kitchens? For example, proper defrosting of meats, cross-contamination between raw meats and other foodstuffs, sanitation of utensils, etc.?

I ask because I'm pretty, um.... okay - I'm militant about proper food sanitation and all that. And most of my relatives are not. They will leave chicken or ground beef sitting on the counter for nine hours straight to defrost without batting an eyelash. And they always complain that they've got stomach aches (and sometimes worse!) but no one but me puts two and two together...

So I'm curious if I'm in the minority or the majority (such as it were) with my take on the matter. 

[marsupial-mom]

Well that's definitely one area where I feel safe - my kitchen is vegan!

[34me]

The health inspector could come to my house at any time and I would be ok. My dh worked as a corporate microbiologist for a major meat company for 15 years and is now a corporate chemist for a dairy manufacturer.

[rnra]

Like you, I'm pretty strict about food safety.  I demand things be kept at proper temperatures and clean thoroughly if any raw meat has been out.  I probably throw out more food than I should as a result of food safety concerns.

[loveandgarbage]

I don't cook meat so it's not really an issue. Though I do wash produce pretty thoroughly especially if we're gonna eat it raw. I don't do soap usually, just give it a good scrub down with water and a brush.

However, when I used to cook meat for my family in high school I was borderline insane about preventing food-borne illness. I would cover all surfaces with paper towels just in case meat juice jumped onto the counter, and would even cover the faucet handles so that I could turn them on without contamination. Can you tell I'm OCD? If I still ate meat I would be vigilant about safety. Even if using mostly humane/organic meat I would still be super careful. I do cook eggs and definitely am very cautious, and will even grill my DH about how cautious he's been when he cooks eggs. I'm annoying.

[KristyDi]

I'll be the odd one out then.  I'm pretty lax about food safety stuff.  I wouldn't leave meat on the counter for 9 hours though.  If I need to defrost meat I usually do it in cold water.  I also wouldn't use tongs or something on raw meat then on something that was ready to eat.

I try to be reasonably careful not to cross contaminate, but I'm not super careful.  I also eat cookie dough with raw eggs without hesitation.

[ashleyhaugh]

i'm pretty lax too, and i've taken food handler courses for work, so i know all the rules and reasons. i do defrost on the counter, but more often its in cold water.i'm about the same as kristy i guess.