[letmein]

Home cooking may be as popular as ever following the success of celebrity chefs on television. But amateur cooks appear to be less keen on kitchen hygiene.

New research has found that not only are Britain’s kitchens so filthy that they present a health risk, but household chefs are woefully ignorant about food preparation hygiene.

They commonly forget to wash their hands, use dirty tea towels and drip germ-laden meat juices in places they should never be, a survey by the Leatherhead Food Research consultancy has found.

As a result cooks and their dinner party guests are being exposed to a greater risk of food poisoning than they need to be. While this may in some cases be excusable because parents are busy juggling work and children, more often than not it’s because people don’t know the basics, such as that they shouldn’t wash or handle raw meat.

The research – said to be the most comprehensive survey of British kitchens ever undertaken – found that 40 per cent of kitchens contain filthy dish cloths or tea towels; a quarter of people don’t automatically wash their hands before preparing food, and only half wash them immediately after cutting raw meat, while a third admit to wiping their dirty hands around the kitchen before heading for the tap.

“I’m sure we’ve all got friends where you go round for dinner and you look at their tea towel and think: ‘My God, that’s disgusting, why don’t you get a new one?’ We don’t have a tea towel police, but we’re raising the issue,” said Professor Tony Hines, of Leatherhead Food Research

In other cases, many people are unaware of the danger that their lack of basic hygiene poses to their health. Handling raw meat is always a no-no, for example, because it helps to spread germs around – which can cause food poisoning.

“I don’t think people realise that although your mother and your grandmother washed your turkey under the kitchen tap on Christmas morning before they put it in the oven, you shouldn’t do that – the science and evidence has moved on,” said Professor Hines.

“It’s not a problem until you get food poisoning. It’s easy to say: ‘It was the chicken, it wasn’t cooked properly’ – well, the chicken was perfectly cooked. It was because you handled it and cut it up. And then you opened the fridge door and didn’t wipe the handle. And your kids came along and opened the fridge just after you and they got chicken juice on their fingers – and then they licked them and they became ill,” he said.

His colleague Nicole Patterson-Lett added: “If you then wipe your hands over the tea towel, having touched the chicken, and then a bit later you’re doing the washing-up with the same tea towel, then again you’re spreading the bacteria to the plates further. It just spreads. You’re not aware of it, you can’t see it.”

Two-thirds of consumers remove raw meat from the packet by hand – you’re meant to plunge a fork or other utensil into it or else tip it onto a chopping board – while three-quarters hold the meat while cutting it into pieces, rather than holding it in place with cutlery. Half of consumers are unaware that washing meat is bad because it splashes germs around the kitchen.

Only a quarter of those surveyed use separate chopping boards for meat, fish and vegetables, and a third of people don’t keep raw meat at the bottom of the fridge – where it is meant to be to avoid dripping juices over everything else.

Ms Patterson-Lett presented the research findings, which came from a questionnaire completed by 1,551 people, at the Institute of Food Science and Technology Conference in London in the hope that they will generate a debate that will help to improve our kitchen habits.

Professor Hines said kitchen hygiene is a particular problem for older people: “We’ve got an ageing population of people who are more forgetful and people living much longer, and elderly people more susceptible to food poisoning because systems are weaker.

“They might have nursing carers but they can often only spend 10 minutes in the house. It would be great if friends and neighbours kept an eye on their neighbours and the relatives were all aware as well.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...-10203176.html

[MB.]

Does Ed Miliband own any of them?

[Marsh.]

me

I don't care about where I drip my meat juices.

[MB.]

That's what the bedroom's for you animal.

[arista]

"Britain’s kitchens so filthy that they present a health risk"


Yes they need cleaners to come in and do a proper job.

[Ammi]

..I would think that this would be the same in any country though, there are people who will think about these things/be more careful etc and thereare some that wouldn't take the same precautions...


'a quarter of people don’t automatically wash their hands before preparing food, and only half wash them immediately after cutting raw meat, while a third admit to wiping their dirty hands around the kitchen before heading for the tap'..it doesn't say what food poisoning cases due to food preparation percentages are though or maybe I missed it...

Professor Hines said kitchen hygiene is a particular problem for older people: “We’ve got an ageing population of people who are more forgetful and people living much longer, and elderly people more susceptible to food poisoning because systems are weaker.

“They might have nursing carers but they can often only spend 10 minutes in the house. It would be great if friends and neighbours kept an eye on their neighbours and the relatives were all aware as well.”

..this bit reminded me of one time my OH's nan asked him for a meal and she forgot to put the oven on ..(she was making a roast dinner..)...and she didn't even realise when she was about to serve it completely raw..she had really decreased eyesight which is why she couldn't see that it was raw...

..but yeah, I have many elderly neighbours and it's always good to see that they're ok and not poisoning themselves....

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by arista

"Britain’s kitchens so filthy that they present a health risk"


Yes they need cleaners to come in and do a proper job.

..maybe they struggle to get a job themselves or can't work so having a cleaner wouldn't really be something that they could think about...

[Crimson Dynamo]

i am not seeing anyone I know with food poisoning or dropping dead?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

i am not seeing anyone I know with food poisoning or dropping dead?

..that's maybe because you date healthy live people though...

[Cherie]

Not handling raw meat is a bit OTT, bit tricky to get a 30lb turkey onto a roasting dish with a fork who wouldn't wash their hands after handling meat

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Not handling raw meat is a bit OTT, bit tricky to get a 30lb turkey onto a roasting dish with a fork who wouldn't wash their hands after handling meat

..the people who don't wash their hands after handling meat....I don't handle meat btw, I wear gloves but that's more because I have a phobia about it but I still have to cook it for le famille....

[Nedusa]

Bring back Domestic Science in schools

[arista]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..maybe they struggle to get a job themselves or can't work so having a cleaner wouldn't really be something that they could think about...

Sure Ammi

No Cleaners for them
then



Sign Of The Times

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..that's maybe because you date healthy live people though...

no i just have few friends and rarely eat meat

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

Bring back Domestic Science in schools

..it's more or less still there Nedusa and not much different in content to when I was at school, well it's better because it covers hygiene more than I recall it did back in the day...

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

Bring back Domestic Science in schools

If the not-so-young wife on the TV program; 'Back In Time For Dinner' is anything to go by; it's time 'Domestic Science' was mandatory in EVERY school, because she could not operate a basic or 'butterfly' tin opener, could not cook or present the most rudimentary of meals, did not know what 90% of the really common foodstuffs were, was ignorant of fresh vegetables, and was hopeless in every aspect of domestic science.

With a few notable exceptions, my OWN experience of the latest generation of 'young mothers' has NOT witnessed much to cause me to think that the above 'wife and mother' is the exception and not the rule.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..it's more or less still there Nedusa and not much different in content to when I was at school, well it's better because it covers hygiene more than I recall it did back in the day...

This surprises me Ammi. Are you sure that Domestic Science is taught in ALL schools?

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

If the not-so-young wife on the TV program; 'Back In Time For Dinner' is anything to go by; it's time 'Domestic Science' was mandatory in EVERY school, because she could not operate a basic or 'butterfly' tin opener, could not cook or present the most rudimentary of meals, did not know what 90% of the really common foodstuffs were, was ignorant of fresh vegetables, and was hopeless in every aspect of domestic science.

With a few notable exceptions, my OWN experience of the latest generation of 'young mothers' has NOT witnessed much to cause me to think that the above 'wife and mother' is the exception and not the rule.

What about 'young Dad's' Kirk?

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

This surprises me Ammi. Are you sure that Domestic Science is taught in ALL schools?

It's called Food Tech now, it is an option for GCSE though not compulsory, and is not on the curriculum in all secondary schools, food hygiene can be taught at home if I had the choice of my child learning a foreign language or Food Tech I know which one I would want them to choose

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..the people who don't wash their hands after handling meat....I don't handle meat btw, I wear gloves but that's more because I have a phobia about it but I still have to cook it for le famille....

i don't think it is a huge problem though, I think people not washing their hands after using the toilet is more common

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by Cherie

It's called Food Tech now, it is an option for GCSE though not compulsory, and is not on the curriculum in all secondary schools, food hygiene can be taught at home if I had the choice of my child learning a foreign language or Food Tech I know which one I would want them to choose

Yeh it was called food tech when I was at school. once we hit year 10 though we could drop it if we wanted.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Cherie

What about 'young Dad's' Kirk?

Honestly Cherie - I don't really know. I think that with each successive generation there are a number of both males and females who have become more obsessive about superficial appearance than the 'nuts and bolts' of real life for most of us who are not fabulously rich - and that is THE fault of progressively poor parenting skills, shit TV programmes such as TOWIE, and unprecedented conditioning by advertising and the media into believing that the 'WAG' lifestyle is the pinnacle which all should aspire to.

I think it's highly informative though, that on the 'Back In Time For Dinner' program, as bad as he was, it was the DAD who seemed to do ALL the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and other domestic duties in their household - AND THAT has been my own personal experience of those I personally know, but whether this is true of MOST men or indeed young men, I don't know.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Yeh it was called food tech when I was at school. once we hit year 10 though we could drop it if we wanted.

Did boys have to attend this class too Kyle? If so did you 'drop out'? And did most of the girls?

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

Did boys have to attend this class too Kyle? If so did you 'drop out'? And did most of the girls?

Yeh, both genders had to do it at my school. I'm not sure what the gender ratio was after our options as I didn't pick it but I personally never knew any lads who picked it. We mostly did P.E and woodwork.

I think it was useful though while we had it. Making stuff to bring home to your mum and dad to try was actually really nice.

[Ammi]

..yeah as Cherie said, Kirk..it's called food technology now and it's not compulsory for GCSE, which many subjects obviously aren't because it would be impossible for every one of them to be...and although it may not be in the curriculum of every secondary school, there are many subjects expanded on and other extra subjects which aren't available at primary level, like drama for instance and that can assist children with low confidence very much indeed...also in the schools that I know and in my area..?...food technology also expands into other subject..like for instance, in Geography the foods of countries studied will be prepared by the children and all food preparation hygiene applied...also in Maths because of the weighing of ingredients part obviously and science in experimenting reactions in certain ingredient combinations ...so there is in many schools quite a bit of focus on it generally...as there is in all parts of hygiene...

..anyway as Cherie also said with languages...different children will be drawn to different subjects to consider at GCSE level and it's great that they have the choices that they do...