The Real Bev wrote:
> Just for curious -- has anybody here ever gotten sick because of a
> poorly-sanitized kitchen?
Not to my knowledge, but I have gotten food poisoning from eating
outside the home.
Worst bout was after eating airplane food - I was deathly ill for weeks
(doc thinks it was probably some form of hepatitis - I have never been
so sick in my life!!). Second worst was eating at a questionable
restaurant (the food tasted funky so we didn't finish it, both of us
got ill the next day, so we complained later to the health department
and found out the place had numerous violations).
At home we eat very little meat, and when we do, we handle VERY
carefully, following the cautions on the package, wa****ng hands
thoroughly after handling, throwing the cutting board and knife
immediately into the dishwasher, etc.
While I will use bleach in the bathroom to reduce mildew and mold
(since I'm allergic to it), I do not use much bleach or other harsh
cleaners in my kitchen or elsewhere in the house. I have been slowly
learning how to clean a house without use of much in the way of toxic
cleaners. (Biggest hurdle is getting over the psychological "need" to
have the house smell "clean" - i.e, like furniture polish, bleach,
etc!!)
Also I'm not sure it's wise to use bleach on granite counters? I just
assumed it wasn't, so I don't. I just wipe them down with soap and
water, or once a week use a granite cleaner.
I will spray out the sink periodically with a bleach-based cleanser
(especially around Thanksgiving, when we're dealing with raw turkey in
the sink), but mostly I just treat the kitchen sink as a "toxic" zone
since I've heard that's where most of the worst germs are in the house.
I.e., I use colanders for wa****ng veggies in the sink and any food that
touches the sink itself, gets thrown away.
Ultimately I think the most im****tant hygiene habit is to wash your
hands with hot water and soap, and do it frequently throughout the day.
We are big on hand-wa****ng around here. I think soap and water is
sufficient and we don't use hand sanitizers except when we travel or go
someplace that we know will only have ****to-pots.
I think the times we tend to get sick are almost always when we make
the long car trip to visit grandma over the holidays. I think those
highway gas stations are landmines, with all those thousands of
travelers using the same bathroom. That's when hand sanitizer is a must
(even if you wash your hands in the bathroom, think of those who don't,
and then touch the same door handle on the way out). Yuck.
I guess I figure it is far more likely that you'll pick up germs from
someone who's sick, than from raw meat or eggs in your kitchen.
jen
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