Sanitizing kitchen

[Rod Speed]

Logan Shaw <lshaw-usenet@austin.rr.com> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote
>> Logan Shaw <lshaw-usenet@austin.rr.com> wrote

>>> When I had surgery to correct my majorly screwed up toenail, the hospital
>>> staff told me I had to rub some iodine stuff all over the lower half of my
>>> whole leg thoroughly.

>>> By your logic, this is a bad practice because it breeds iodine resistant
>>> bacteria.

>> Wrong. I never said that sanitizing isnt useful in hospitals, JUST
>> that its very undesirable in KITCHENS where it breeds bad bugs.

> How do the germs know whether they're in a kitchen or someplace else like a
> hospital?

By the thoroughness of the 'sanitizing'

> It seems like germs would respond to the same chemical in the same way no
> matter where the germs are located.

They dont necessarily get the same chemical as in a hospital
where real care is taken to ensure that the right mixture of say
bleach is used which ensure enough active ingredient, let alone
the same level of application to everywhere like the floors etc.

> If it breeds bad bugs in a kitchen, then it will in a hospital too, and vice
> versa.

Wrong, what matters is those that dont get killed.

> If it did breed bad bugs, then why would hospitals disinfect things at such a
> critical time as right before an operation?

Because they can ensure that its done right with a very high kill rate.

That was not however enough before antibiotics were invented.

[Sue Larkin]

In article <ebcZe.33058$uD6.7268@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com>,
"Chloe" <justsayno@spam.com> wrote:

> "The Real Bev" <bashley@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
> news:4334A619.6E916EED@myrealbox.com...
> > Just for curious -- has anybody here ever gotten sick because of a
> > poorly-sanitized kitchen?
>
> No, although I didn't take the warnings seriously enough about cooking
> chicken thoroughly one time. Emphasis on the word one. So although I think
> some of the caution about wiping down with bleach and the like might be
> overdone for people with healthy immune systems, I do treat raw chicken as
> the toxic substance it is.

I have friends of long standing who have extremely questionable kitchen
hygiene habits. They tend to get digestive disturbances more often than
what might be considered normal (whatever 'normal' might be in this
case!). And, they get them at the same time. They always say it's the
flu and never consider that it could be 'something they ate' or, rather,
the array of germs comingling in their kitchen that clung to whatever
they ate...or the very outdated food at the back of their refrigerator
that they refuse to toss! I stopped accepting dinner invitations over a
decade ago when I felt ill after eating at their home. I know others who
also decline dinner invites. In the meantime, my friends just keep
getting the flu more often than anyone they know and their friend base
just keeps getting smaller.

Talk about denial!

aloha...Sue

[Peter Bruells]

Logan Shaw <lshaw-usenet@austin.rr.com> writes:


> Iodine is still used. When I had surgery to correct my majorly
> screwed up toenail, the hospital staff told me I had to rub some
> iodine stuff all over the lower half of my whole leg thoroughly.
> By your logic, this is a bad practice because it breeds iodine
> resistant bacteria. Nevertheless, it is still a standard thing
> to do before an operation.

Part of the anti-biotics-resistancy problem is simply mis-use.

Over-Exposure - patients insisting on anti-biotics even for viral
infections - and stopping them to early, i.e. putting them away when
the sickness has passed, but not all bacteria have been killed.

[shinypenny]

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, washing 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 washing veggies in the sink and any food that
touches the sink itself, gets thrown away.

Ultimately I think the most important hygiene habit is to wash your
hands with hot water and soap, and do it frequently throughout the day.
We are big on hand-washing 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 porto-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

[shinypenny]

The Real Bev wrote:
> Just for curious -- has anybody here ever gotten sick because of a
> poorly-sanitized kitchen?


Forgot one more comment: my pet peeve is grocery store baggers who toss
the raw meat in on top of the fresh produce. DUH! That is soooo
unsafe!!

jen

[dogsnus]

Picilli <feranija@net...> wrote in news:gig0hd.oc.ln@127.0.0.1:


>
> Why only bleach ? OK, it may be an excellent sanitizer, but aren't
> 99% propanol or ethanol just as effective disinfectants ?

I can get a gallon of bleach for .99. It goes a very long way.

Terri

--
Your rubber and I'm chocolate, whatever you say bounces off me and lands
in fondue. No, wait, I told that wrong. Wiblur-alt.religion.kibology

[The Real Bev]

shinypenny wrote:
>
> 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.

Perhaps it comes down to individual resistance. After crossing the country
innumerable times since 1962, stopping at the cheapest gas station in any
town and being horrified at what we found in many restrooms, including no
hand-washing facilities, we have NEVER gotten any sort of illness. My
daughter got poison oak once, but that was from a patch of brush in the
forest, not a public restroom. Only recently have I thought about the dangers
lurking on the bathroom doorhandle, and I worry about those only when I'm
in/near doctors' offices or a hospital.

--
Cheers,
Bev
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
'Politics' comes from an ancient Greek word meaning
'many blood-sucking leeches.' -- Mark Russell

[Bob Ward]

On 25 Sep 2005 05:28:05 -0700, "shinypenny" <shinypenny0001@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>The Real Bev wrote:
>> Just for curious -- has anybody here ever gotten sick because of a
>> poorly-sanitized kitchen?
>
>
>Forgot one more comment: my pet peeve is grocery store baggers who toss
>the raw meat in on top of the fresh produce. DUH! That is soooo
>unsafe!!
>
>jen

In the stores I frequent, they wrap the raw meat in plastic, then in
paper, then place the package in a plastic bag. You might mention
this possibility to your local butcher.