Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cutting boards and vegetarians

[Unnat (Zen]

> What is the risk of getting food poisoning from careless food
> preparation at home?  How does it compare to being struck by
lightning?

Thanks Stuart, this is my question too.
I have a pof. catering and hospitality background, have macro-vision (I
can spot a speck of grunge from a mile away), always scrub my boards and
wash my hands etc, however after years of shared meals, some from
kitchen's that I wouldn't like to call my own, I have never been ill or
know of anyone else who has.

Kitchen and toilet facilities at a forest rescue camp are temporary and
rudimentary; many of the crew have a very casual attitude to hygiene
(and I'm not promoting this!), yet there and at other large moblile
camps I've been involved with over many years, I've only occasionally
heard of minor stomache upsets.

I also found that extracting chewed up snail shells, dirt and leaves out
of my daughter's mouth when she was a toddler broadened my perspective
around 'germs'.

Fresh food, good hygiene and clean kitchens make sense - I just think
that we're hardier than the advertisers of multi-level anti-bacterial
cleaning products would have us believe.

Warmest regards
Robyn Williams
Pinakarri Community
Fremantle, Western Australia