To what extent do you practice food safety in the kitchen?

thunderstorm

Mon, Feb 08 2016, 3:00 pm

I have learned the hard way. I always thought I was pretty careful. But I got very very sick one day and the next year my DH contracted the same disease....it's called Campylobacter , it comes from handling raw chicken or meat etc. or eating raw chicken or meat. The CDC actually called me to document if I had recently eaten in any food establishments etc...
My FIL works in shechita and he used to give me whole frozen chickens in shopping bags, which I would defrost in my sink...I let it sit there all day until it was defrosted enough for me to cut it up. I made my own cutlets, saved the bones for soup and made my own chicken quarters. I did not realize that the juice from the poultry is extremely dangerous...even if one drop gets left on your counter, you can contaminate anything that comes in contact with that drip. I always use gloves when handling chicken now.
My DH actually got sick after eating a grilled chicken cutlet that wasnt fully cooked through on the George Foreman grill.

Ever since we experienced the trauma of this illness, I am super careful. But I am a busy cook, make tons of food at once and have things flying around the kitchen while I cook and I make a super mess. So anything can splash...I try to keep the counters clean as much as I could.
We have to do our best to keep safe, but also do our best to stay sane and not make ourselves crazy either.