How do you handle raw meat?
June 6, 2022 4:11 PM Subscribe
Are my raw meat handling practices sufficient from a food safety perspective? Or are they excessive? How do you safely handle raw meat in your kitchen?
I grew up in a household that treated raw meat like it was radioactive, so I don’t know if some of my raw meat handling practices are overkill or if they could be better. I have two competing priorities when it comes to preparing meat: 1) I have a small child and want to ensure the food she is served and our kitchen is as safe as possible; 2) my time is limited so I want my meal prep to be as efficient as possible.
If you are a cook who prioritizes food safety, how do you handle raw meat in your kitchen? Including prep, tools you use, and especially clean up.
Some things I do currently that I wonder if they’re unnecessarily cautious:
- I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
- when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
- I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
Some things I do that I wonder if they’re not cautious enough:
- I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
- I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
- I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
- I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
Experienced cooks of Mefi please help!
I grew up in a household that treated raw meat like it was radioactive, so I don’t know if some of my raw meat handling practices are overkill or if they could be better. I have two competing priorities when it comes to preparing meat: 1) I have a small child and want to ensure the food she is served and our kitchen is as safe as possible; 2) my time is limited so I want my meal prep to be as efficient as possible.
If you are a cook who prioritizes food safety, how do you handle raw meat in your kitchen? Including prep, tools you use, and especially clean up.
Some things I do currently that I wonder if they’re unnecessarily cautious:
- I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
- when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
- I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
Some things I do that I wonder if they’re not cautious enough:
- I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
- I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
- I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
- I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
Experienced cooks of Mefi please help!
I would not swap utensils during cooking - in my judgement, they carry very little material, and whatever they do carry will be up to temperature pretty much the moment it touches hot cooked meat. I would not wash the thermometer until cleanup time, for similar reasons.
If dishwashers or antibac soap were a necessary part of post meat cleanup, our grandparents would all have died of food poisoning. I will wash things that touched raw meat with normal dish soap and hot water after I'm done, or run them through the dishwasher. I will not use things that chopped raw meat to chop anything else until they are washed. I typically use a plastic chopping board (is that bad?). And I wash my hands after touching raw meat and before touching anything else.
I think the Lysol around meaty surfaces is good practice, personally - I may not be as good at remembering to do it as you are, but I would think of that as conscientious behaviour.
My references: have not died of food poisoning; have not killed anyone unintentionally.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:54 PM on June 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
If dishwashers or antibac soap were a necessary part of post meat cleanup, our grandparents would all have died of food poisoning. I will wash things that touched raw meat with normal dish soap and hot water after I'm done, or run them through the dishwasher. I will not use things that chopped raw meat to chop anything else until they are washed. I typically use a plastic chopping board (is that bad?). And I wash my hands after touching raw meat and before touching anything else.
I think the Lysol around meaty surfaces is good practice, personally - I may not be as good at remembering to do it as you are, but I would think of that as conscientious behaviour.
My references: have not died of food poisoning; have not killed anyone unintentionally.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:54 PM on June 6, 2022 [7 favorites]
FWIW, I do all you do. Plus I put the cutting board used for raw meat in the dishwasher, without fail. Also any plates or bowls that have had raw meat in them. Any utensils that have touched raw meat either go in the dishwasher or are washed thoroughly with dish soap (not antibacterial soap, I don't think, but my husband buys the dish soap so I'm not sure). I also wear vinyl gloves when handling raw meat, but that's mostly because I have long fingernails and I don't want anything nasty gathering underneath them.
posted by DrGail at 5:21 PM on June 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by DrGail at 5:21 PM on June 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I also pretty much do exactly what you do, except that I put anything that's dishwasher safe into the dishwasher.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 5:36 PM on June 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 5:36 PM on June 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm pretty similar to you, but I don't necessarily Lysol the countertops. I mean, I'll wipe them down as normal, and maybe use a disposable napkin if I know that raw chicken specifically got on the counter. Sometimes I switch/wash my cooking spoon halfway, but not always. I don't use a dishwasher on a regular basis, so my cutting boards and knives all get washed by hand. If the board has bits of meat on it, I'll try to wipe that off first into the sink with my hand, then wash my hands, then go at it with my sponge. You're probably on the slightly higher than middle of cautiousness, but not overly so.
posted by hydra77 at 5:37 PM on June 6, 2022
posted by hydra77 at 5:37 PM on June 6, 2022
I will often rinse utensils but not swap them out unless there's clearly a lot of material on them that doesn't come off in the rinse. Same goes for the thermometer. Lysol on my counters I would only do periodically, or if the meat were in direct contact with the counter. Regular dish soap is adequate for cleaning utensils, bowls, etc.
If I were you, I'd wash the cutting board in the dishwasher, but that's mainly because in my view the primary advantage of a plastic cutting board is that you can put it in the dishwasher. I often end up using my wooden board for meat just because it's bigger, and so I handwash it. Other utensils also usually go in the dishwasher, except knives because dishwashers are not kind to knives.
I would treat raw chicken and ground meat the same as raw steaks, roasts, etc. This is because the major difference is that in a solid cut of beef or pork, the pathogenic bacteria live only on the surface, which is why it's safe to cook a steak rare -- the surface still gets sterilized. With chicken or ground meet, the pathogens are distributed throughout, either because they naturally live in the interior (chicken) or because the grinding process mixes them in. However, even for the solid cuts, it's the surface of the meat that touches your work surface, so for the purposes of cross-contamination I'd consider it the same.
posted by egregious theorem at 5:39 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
If I were you, I'd wash the cutting board in the dishwasher, but that's mainly because in my view the primary advantage of a plastic cutting board is that you can put it in the dishwasher. I often end up using my wooden board for meat just because it's bigger, and so I handwash it. Other utensils also usually go in the dishwasher, except knives because dishwashers are not kind to knives.
I would treat raw chicken and ground meat the same as raw steaks, roasts, etc. This is because the major difference is that in a solid cut of beef or pork, the pathogenic bacteria live only on the surface, which is why it's safe to cook a steak rare -- the surface still gets sterilized. With chicken or ground meet, the pathogens are distributed throughout, either because they naturally live in the interior (chicken) or because the grinding process mixes them in. However, even for the solid cuts, it's the surface of the meat that touches your work surface, so for the purposes of cross-contamination I'd consider it the same.
posted by egregious theorem at 5:39 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
I treat raw poultry/pork/ground beef as you do and raw steak/roast a bit less delicately.
posted by OrangeVelour at 5:43 PM on June 6, 2022
posted by OrangeVelour at 5:43 PM on June 6, 2022
Best answer: You are being more careful than the vast majority of people, I would think. You could probably relax a little without significantly increasing your risk.
Switching utensils or thermometers is not necessary. The utensils touch the exterior of the meat, which is hot while you are cooking it and this heat will kill anything that ends up on it from the utensil. As long as you aren't handling the meat with a cooking utensil after it has cooled significantly, you are very safe (i.e. don't use the tongs you used to BBQ as serving utensils at the table, but don't worry about using the tongs throughout cooking).
The thermometer tip will be at the cooked temperature of the food while it is in the food, which is safe for chicken or ground beef, which is cooked to higher temperatures. For steak or pork cooked to a lower internal temperature (it is no longer necessary to overcook pork chops), the potential risk of any contamination from the outside of a steak, for example, being transported into a steak by the thermometer tip is very low. Presumably you aren't probing the meat until it is cooked on the outside anyways, making this a moot point. Even if this did somehow happen, which I can't really see unless you are probing raw meat, it is very unlikely to be enough to make you sick.
A plastic cutting board is fine (there is some debate about this, but really either wood or plastic is fine). Antimicrobial soap or detergent is not any better than regular detergent — the point is to clean things by removing the crud on the surface, which removes microbes, rather than try to kill microbes directly (which antimicrobial detergents don't do very well anyways). Wiping down the counters with soap and water is sufficient as well.
You are right to be more cautious with chicken and ground meat. These are much more likely to be contaminated than steaks, etc.
Realistically, you are more likely to get sick from fruit and vegetables than from meat (though death from meat is a little more likely). Most of us would probably be better off being more careful about our vegetables and less worried about our meat. Lettuce, spinach and other vegetables that have nooks and crannies and are eaten raw are much more risky than a steak.
posted by ssg at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
Switching utensils or thermometers is not necessary. The utensils touch the exterior of the meat, which is hot while you are cooking it and this heat will kill anything that ends up on it from the utensil. As long as you aren't handling the meat with a cooking utensil after it has cooled significantly, you are very safe (i.e. don't use the tongs you used to BBQ as serving utensils at the table, but don't worry about using the tongs throughout cooking).
The thermometer tip will be at the cooked temperature of the food while it is in the food, which is safe for chicken or ground beef, which is cooked to higher temperatures. For steak or pork cooked to a lower internal temperature (it is no longer necessary to overcook pork chops), the potential risk of any contamination from the outside of a steak, for example, being transported into a steak by the thermometer tip is very low. Presumably you aren't probing the meat until it is cooked on the outside anyways, making this a moot point. Even if this did somehow happen, which I can't really see unless you are probing raw meat, it is very unlikely to be enough to make you sick.
A plastic cutting board is fine (there is some debate about this, but really either wood or plastic is fine). Antimicrobial soap or detergent is not any better than regular detergent — the point is to clean things by removing the crud on the surface, which removes microbes, rather than try to kill microbes directly (which antimicrobial detergents don't do very well anyways). Wiping down the counters with soap and water is sufficient as well.
You are right to be more cautious with chicken and ground meat. These are much more likely to be contaminated than steaks, etc.
Realistically, you are more likely to get sick from fruit and vegetables than from meat (though death from meat is a little more likely). Most of us would probably be better off being more careful about our vegetables and less worried about our meat. Lettuce, spinach and other vegetables that have nooks and crannies and are eaten raw are much more risky than a steak.
posted by ssg at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
I'm not super fussy and don't do a lot of what you do, but my two pieces of feedback are 1) I think the meat thermometer thing is kind of illogical. If the meat is at temp, it's killing whatever pathogen you're hoping to kill when cooking it to that temperature. You're not introducing something from the less cooked meat to a cooled off/semi warm meat, you're introducing it at it's hottest. It should kill it on contact. If you're cooking something for like 4 hours, maybe something new could have grown on the thermometer (unlikely) but I assume you're talking about a roast that needs 10 more minutes or something, right?
and 2) I would put those plastic cutting boards into the dishwasher definitely.
posted by vunder at 5:47 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
and 2) I would put those plastic cutting boards into the dishwasher definitely.
posted by vunder at 5:47 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I also use a plastic cutting board that is dedicated for raw meat only, so fruits and veggies have a separate board. And run it all through the dishwasher when you are done if you can, much more effective at sterilizing than what you can do by hand.
posted by platinum at 5:52 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by platinum at 5:52 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'm not an expert but I cook 2-3 times a day and no one has ever gotten sick.
- I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
Only if I can't "cook" the utensil at a later point. If it's soup or sauce or I'll be stirring hot stir fry a few times, I continue with the same utensil.
- when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
I don't, since the germs on the thermometer will be "cooked" to a safe temperature once the meat is at a safe temperature.
- I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
Only if the meat splashed or dropped on the counter.
- I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
Same.
- I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
I put them all in the sink and everything in the sink goes in the dishwasher, the sink gets a soapy wipe down at the end.
- I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
Same.
- I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
Yep.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 6:00 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
- I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
Only if I can't "cook" the utensil at a later point. If it's soup or sauce or I'll be stirring hot stir fry a few times, I continue with the same utensil.
- when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
I don't, since the germs on the thermometer will be "cooked" to a safe temperature once the meat is at a safe temperature.
- I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
Only if the meat splashed or dropped on the counter.
- I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
Same.
- I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
I put them all in the sink and everything in the sink goes in the dishwasher, the sink gets a soapy wipe down at the end.
- I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
Same.
- I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
Yep.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 6:00 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do exactly what you do (plus serious handwashing before starting to cook or handle food, right?) and I don't think it's excessive at all, or burdensome. Hell of a lot less burdensome than food poisoning (or even having to wonder about food poisoning.)
This post makes me think of a certain relative's disgusting meat handling practices and how terrified I always was to eat in her house. It was so gross and scary.
You're fine. Good job! Enjoy being right.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:15 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
This post makes me think of a certain relative's disgusting meat handling practices and how terrified I always was to eat in her house. It was so gross and scary.
You're fine. Good job! Enjoy being right.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:15 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you all for the excellent feedback!
I think I’ll tweak my routine slightly and not fuss about washing my thermometer until I’m done with it.
I have no idea why I haven’t been putting my plastic cutting boards in the dishwasher, I’ll start now!
Y’all are awesome thanks again.
posted by rodneyaug at 6:16 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think I’ll tweak my routine slightly and not fuss about washing my thermometer until I’m done with it.
I have no idea why I haven’t been putting my plastic cutting boards in the dishwasher, I’ll start now!
Y’all are awesome thanks again.
posted by rodneyaug at 6:16 PM on June 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Please no suggestions to eat less meat…it’s an easily available iron source for my small child so we’ll keep it in our diet regularly for a while. There have been seasons in my life where I’ve reduced my meat consumption but this is not that season.
And I am not at all distressed about this or even stressed about this, just looking for feedback or tips.
posted by rodneyaug at 7:04 PM on June 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
And I am not at all distressed about this or even stressed about this, just looking for feedback or tips.
posted by rodneyaug at 7:04 PM on June 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Context - I dated someone doing a PhD in microbiology focused on food safety for four years.
I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
I generally do this. It probably doesn't matter but I have plenty of utensils.
when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
I don't do this. My thermometers are fast so there's not a lot of time for them to get exposed and I'm generally more concerned about bacteria on the surface of the meat than the inside and by the point I'm taking the measurement, the outside is definitely past the kill point.
I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
I only use something stronger than basic soap if I think there's a reason that the counters would have gotten contaminated. I use a large cutting board that's unlikely to leak and carry it over to what I'm cooking in.
I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
As compared to wood? Plastic all the way. You want something dishwasher safe.
I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
I do this all the time and even if you hand wash the cutting board and utensils right after use, you should still put them in the dishwasher. Dishwashers do a much better job of cleaning than hand washing (in general, if in good condition and loaded properly). Very little bacteria is going to be left on after 2+ hours of scalding water jets and soap hitting it compared to what you can do with hand washing.
Knives you should wash thoroughly by hand but that's to protect the knife from the dishwasher, not because it's safer as far as bacteria.
I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
Antibacterial soap is somewhere between a scam and a bad idea for breeding resistant bacteria.
I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
This is the way. You are correct that chicken and ground meat are more dangerous because there can be bacteria inside of them that will survive if not cooked to the kill point throughout whereas steak and chops as long as you cook the outside thoroughly you're quite safe. (At least with pork, assuming you're in a country without trichinosis.)
posted by Candleman at 7:33 PM on June 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I switch utensils halfway through cooking so a utensil that’s touched raw meat doesn’t touch the cooked meat
I generally do this. It probably doesn't matter but I have plenty of utensils.
when I test my meat’s temperature with a meat thermometer, I wash the thermometer if the meat isn’t yet up to temperature before using it again
I don't do this. My thermometers are fast so there's not a lot of time for them to get exposed and I'm generally more concerned about bacteria on the surface of the meat than the inside and by the point I'm taking the measurement, the outside is definitely past the kill point.
I Lysol my counters after prepping raw meat
I only use something stronger than basic soap if I think there's a reason that the counters would have gotten contaminated. I use a large cutting board that's unlikely to leak and carry it over to what I'm cooking in.
I use a plastic cutting board for cutting raw meat
As compared to wood? Plastic all the way. You want something dishwasher safe.
I don’t put the cutting board/utensils/knife in the dishwasher after they’ve touched raw meat
I do this all the time and even if you hand wash the cutting board and utensils right after use, you should still put them in the dishwasher. Dishwashers do a much better job of cleaning than hand washing (in general, if in good condition and loaded properly). Very little bacteria is going to be left on after 2+ hours of scalding water jets and soap hitting it compared to what you can do with hand washing.
Knives you should wash thoroughly by hand but that's to protect the knife from the dishwasher, not because it's safer as far as bacteria.
I use regular dish soap and hot water to wash my tools, I don’t use dedicated antibacterial soap
Antibacterial soap is somewhere between a scam and a bad idea for breeding resistant bacteria.
I treat raw chicken and raw ground meat more cautiously than, say, raw steak or raw pork chops
This is the way. You are correct that chicken and ground meat are more dangerous because there can be bacteria inside of them that will survive if not cooked to the kill point throughout whereas steak and chops as long as you cook the outside thoroughly you're quite safe. (At least with pork, assuming you're in a country without trichinosis.)
posted by Candleman at 7:33 PM on June 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm an enthusiastic but amateur cook with no background in food science or food-borne disease prevention. I have a set of colour-coded cutting boards, and only use the ones for raw meat to cut raw meat. Back when I reused the same cutting board(s) for everything I would always cut up all the vegetables first and the raw meat last (and if I forgot something, I would wash the board very carefully in between). I do this even if all the meat and vegetables will end up cooked at a high temperature together; it's an ingrained habit.
posted by confluency at 4:10 AM on June 7, 2022
- Utensil switching: only for chicken or mince, and I usually just rinse the utensil in hot water. It also depends on context; if I use a fork to flip a chicken schnitzel which is partially raw inside I probably won't wash it before continuing to flip.
- Meat thermometer: N/A; I don't have one. I would probably treat it like a utensil.
- Lysol: no. I wash my kitchen counters with dishwashing liquid. I clean up more immediately and carefully after raw chicken, not so much after other kinds of meat.
- Plastic cutting board: fine. My meat boards are nylon.
- Dishwasher: I don't hesitate to wash things that have touched raw meat in the dishwasher. It's probably safer. I clean the boards by hand because I don't run the dishwasher often, and I'm worried about old meat juice getting embedded in scratches. I don't have the same concerns about completely non-porous items (I also try to wash my knives by hand, but sometimes I'm lazy and don't bother). If I ran the dishwasher daily I'd just put the boards in.
- Antibacterial soap: I don't use it at all. Normal dishwashing soap / liquid should be fine.
- Chicken and mince: same. I'm the most cautious with chicken, but not to the nuclear degree that I've heard from some people. I just take more care not to cross-contaminate anything with raw chicken.
posted by confluency at 4:10 AM on June 7, 2022
On re-reading, to clarify, if I'm continuously using an utensil to stir cooking meat which goes from raw to cooked, and the utensil is also "getting cooked", I do not change utensils halfway. I would only change utensils if I used something at the beginning (a fork or a bowl) to touch raw meat and then wanted to re-use it at the end to touch cooked meat, and only if that meat was something that I consider unsafe when undercooked (chicken or mince, and possibly pork, although I realise that trichinosis isn't really a thing anymore, but not beef steak).
posted by confluency at 4:17 AM on June 7, 2022
posted by confluency at 4:17 AM on June 7, 2022
I have some cutting boards that are too big for the dishwasher. Those I wash with dish soap and then rinse in laundry bleach, if I've used raw meat esp chicken. I keep some bleach in a squirt bottle under the sink for the purpose.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:45 AM on June 7, 2022
posted by tmdonahue at 5:45 AM on June 7, 2022
If you do have to hand wash your plastic cutting board, a brush is the best tool for this, as it can clean the micro-cuts that will scar the cutting board's surface. I am another one who uses bleach to clean with when there is danger of e-coli or salmonella.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:15 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:15 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don’t switch utensils or wash the thermometer halfway through, and dish soap on a sponge rather than Lysol for counters, but I definitely give my sink and faucet/handles a wash down as the last thing I do after washing dishes. Especially if there’s been a pot or pan soaking for a while. The sink has got to be the grossest spot in the kitchen, hands down, so I try to keep that cleaned regularly.
posted by Liesl at 6:31 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Liesl at 6:31 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I hate cutting boards, so I just use a plate, and throw it in the dishwasher, unless the meat is too big for a plate.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:36 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:36 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
About the only thing I do consistently is washing the plate or getting a fresh plate after taking raw meat/poultry/fish outside to the grill. It's somewhere between poor form and terribly unsafe to put cooked meat/poultry/fish back on a dish that had raw meat/poultry/fish on it.
posted by emelenjr at 11:27 AM on June 7, 2022
posted by emelenjr at 11:27 AM on June 7, 2022
Best answer: I do pretty much what you do, including switching the plate and utensils.
The places where to me your process could be loosened are:
Personally I think Lysol is overkill and I don’t want its residue anywhere near me - in the kitchen I only clean with things I would eat, so dish soap, hand soap, baking soda, salt, or vinegar.
For raw meat juice on the counter I use hot water with a bit of dish soap to wipe the counters - ideally with a paper towel, but if using a cloth or sponge on raw meat juice, I would quickly hand wash it in hot water and dish soap, and for a cloth I’d hang it spread out to dry so it wouldn’t get smelly, and then toss into the laundry with other kitchen towels.
I consider ground meat, chicken, and pork a bit tricky. Beef I don’t care.
And you can definitely put raw meat juice into the dishwasher - it sterilizes everything.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:05 PM on June 7, 2022
The places where to me your process could be loosened are:
Personally I think Lysol is overkill and I don’t want its residue anywhere near me - in the kitchen I only clean with things I would eat, so dish soap, hand soap, baking soda, salt, or vinegar.
For raw meat juice on the counter I use hot water with a bit of dish soap to wipe the counters - ideally with a paper towel, but if using a cloth or sponge on raw meat juice, I would quickly hand wash it in hot water and dish soap, and for a cloth I’d hang it spread out to dry so it wouldn’t get smelly, and then toss into the laundry with other kitchen towels.
I consider ground meat, chicken, and pork a bit tricky. Beef I don’t care.
And you can definitely put raw meat juice into the dishwasher - it sterilizes everything.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:05 PM on June 7, 2022
There's no need for lysol or antibacterial soap, and they can cause other problems. Regular dishsoap and water is fine.
Other than that your precautions seem pretty normal to me and I'm careless about food safety in general for what that's worth. When things have touched raw meat, they should be washed (dishwasher or by hand are both fine) rather than being used to touch things that will be eaten without further cooking. This would include cooking utensils too but I usually avoid touching the food with tongs or a meat thermometer until the outer layer is browned so I don't feel the need to wash them after that. If I use a fork to poke holes in raw sausage or something like that I would definitely discard that fork for washing rather than using it later in the cooking process. Similarly if I put raw meat on a plate, the cooked meat absolutely can't go back on that same plate unless it's been washed in the meantime.
posted by randomnity at 8:11 AM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Other than that your precautions seem pretty normal to me and I'm careless about food safety in general for what that's worth. When things have touched raw meat, they should be washed (dishwasher or by hand are both fine) rather than being used to touch things that will be eaten without further cooking. This would include cooking utensils too but I usually avoid touching the food with tongs or a meat thermometer until the outer layer is browned so I don't feel the need to wash them after that. If I use a fork to poke holes in raw sausage or something like that I would definitely discard that fork for washing rather than using it later in the cooking process. Similarly if I put raw meat on a plate, the cooked meat absolutely can't go back on that same plate unless it's been washed in the meantime.
posted by randomnity at 8:11 AM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
I put knives in the dishwasher, too. They go in the third rack, so they're not rattling around against anything. They're from Ikea and nothing fancy, but I do like them -- and they seem to be fine.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:03 PM on June 9, 2022
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:03 PM on June 9, 2022
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posted by kevinbelt at 4:53 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]