Do you eat food that other people prepare?

[Smee]

Even if one chose to live only by food they prepared with their own hands in their own kitchen, they still have little control over how food is handled from farm to processing plant to store. Farm workers pee in fields all the time as well as whatever animals wander through. You can wash produce all you want, but for most people that means a quick rinse under cold water, not full-on sanitizing, and good luck washing frozen or canned goods or boxed goods, any of which could still be vulnerable to contamination. A person could go nuts worrying about all the what-ifs of food safety. I just try to take reasonable precautions and hope for the best.

[Smee]

Heh, I remember the grossness of working in meat processing plants (pork and chicken). There were USDA inspectors right there on site and yet some of the grossness that got by was appalling. I think it's important to have some sort of accountability and all that, but don't get too comfortable with the notion that just because regulations exist, they aren't regularly broken or that they are any guarantee of safety. Unless you are growing, butchering, processing your own food from pasture/field to plate, you are still trusting strangers to keep your food safe.

[Smee]

Oh! Oh! I used to drive trucks. I can't remember how many times I've hauled a placarded load of hazardous materials and then turned right around and hauled a load of groceries on the same trailer to a grocery warehouse.

Bake sale cakes are the least of my worries!

[Smee]

Hungry?

[cheynesnana]

Even if one chose to live only by food they prepared with their own hands in their own kitchen, they still have little control over how food is handled from farm to processing plant to store. Farm workers pee in fields all the time as well as whatever animals wander through. You can wash produce all you want, but for most people that means a quick rinse under cold water, not full-on sanitizing, and good luck washing frozen or canned goods or boxed goods, any of which could still be vulnerable to contamination. A person could go nuts worrying about all the what-ifs of food safety. I just try to take reasonable precautions and hope for the best.

Heh, I remember the grossness of working in meat processing plants (pork and chicken). There were USDA inspectors right there on site and yet some of the grossness that got by was appalling. I think it's important to have some sort of accountability and all that, but don't get too comfortable with the notion that just because regulations exist, they aren't regularly broken or that they are any guarantee of safety. Unless you are growing, butchering, processing your own food from pasture/field to plate, you are still trusting strangers to keep your food safe.

Oh! Oh! I used to drive trucks. I can't remember how many times I've hauled a placarded load of hazardous materials and then turned right around and hauled a load of groceries on the same trailer to a grocery warehouse.

Bake sale cakes are the least of my worries!

Well thank you Smeesie Sunshine!!

[Smee]

Ha! They should hire me as a personal motivator on Biggest Loser. I have the gift of gross-out.

[enginerd]

It isn't something I worry about - we are not picky here. Last night my DH was frying fish, okra, and hush puppies out on our deck. Everyone who was eating (company included) saw a moth fly into the fryer. When my DH finished the batch of okra he just dipped out the fried moth and threw it away. We all laughed and kept on eating. I don't eat okra but I ate the hush puppies that he fried after that. DH VERY particular cousin even ate the okra - go figure! I did notice recently that my elderly MIL does not wash her hands after using the restroom these days (dementia, maybe?) I don't eat anything she makes now unless it is something that she wouldn't touch with her bare hands. BTW everyone else loves her cooking and raves about it.

[Doglover8180]

Hungry?

Actually I am... I think I will go to my kitchen and cook a pizza and hope that the person working in the factory on the day my pizza was packaged, didn't do a major screw-up.

[Smee]

You should thoroughly wash that pizza and then boil it to ensure safety.

I'm just pokin' ya.

[fungirl2727]

I prefer not to eat other people cooking at all! I don't go cookouts or anything elce. I will eat my mom cooking once a yr. My mom is in charge of infection control at a hospital. My mom is like me so no worries. I don't go to potlocks at all because don't know how they are prepared. I also am trying to loose this xtra 15 pounds. I don't eat any fastfood anymore. I try to eat nice and clean. I have also been cutting portions down. I drink smoothie for lunch, light whole wheat sm chk thing for lunch and sm piece pizza for dinner. I also will have some fruites and veggies through day.