I know very little about food safety and I have what might be a stupid question.
>cooking meat
>use tongs to turn meat over
>tongs have therefore touched uncooked meat
>use same tongs to remove the meat and put it on a plate
is this bad? seems like people do this all the time, but am i supposed to wash the tongs before i use them again?
also, general food safety questions thread.
That's what happens with virtually every piece of meat you've ever ordered at a restaurant.
It's easy enough to avoid doing at home, but there's very little chance it's going to make you sick.
>>7585285
Just touching uncooked meat is very unlikely to hurt anything. Wash the tongs after you're done using them, but no need to wash them while the meat is cooking or whatever. If you're really germaphobic, just quickly wipe them down with a paper towel.
>>7585285
>is this bad?
Yes.
>seems like people do this all the time
Yep, you are correct.
Keep in mind that food safety rules are all about managing risk, there's never a certainty that something will or won't make someone sick.
I just leave the grabber end of the tongs over the grill so the heat kills anything on them.
The surface temperature of the meat is typically going to be higher than the internal temperature, which is the temperature that determines safe consumption. So once the meat has reached a safe internal temperature, it follows that the external temperature is just as high or higher. Safe temperatures kill everything within seconds. So therefore any pathogenic contaminants from utensils are killed immediately so long as the meat hasn't cooled down too much. Also, the utensils may be pasteurized by being in contact with the hot food item or hot oil.
Another thing that people do is to turn the meat over with a separate utensil for the first time (or flip some other way) so that both sides of the meat are pasteurized first. Then use tongs.
Also dip tongs in boiling water, but that's not very practical at home, nor necessary
>>7585292
>drop tongs on floor
>walk over to fryer
>stick tongs in fryer
>clean
>>7585356
there's nothing wrong with this
>>7585356
Lol, I have done that!
I've done similar with grill tongs: just stick 'em over the fire for a moment.
>>7585285
If you're that worried, just apply the tongs to the heat for a bit. There's no pores or anything for viruses or bacteria to hide in, so the direct heat will kill whatever you're scared of in seconds.
>>7585356
Stick tongs in ass
>walk over to fryer
>stick tongs in fryer
Good to go, none of my guests have noticed yet!
>>7585285
The heat coming off the grill is typically enough to cook any bacteria off the tongs that might threaten to get you sick and same thing once the tongs touch the surface of the meat.
>>7585360
please be my gf
>>7585285
I'm a stickler for clean cooking and not cross-contaminating shit. I use two pairs of tongs or two spatulas or whatever. First one is to flip around the meat until the outside is cooked enough, then I set those in the sink with my other dirty dishes, and use a new pair of tongs.
I don't mind doing it with beef, it's mainly for chicken and pork.
>>7585385
Why the distinction between beef and other meats? The chance of cross-contamination is equal for all.
>>7585389
Because chicken is generally a lot more dangerous when raw than beef is.
Pork used to be but in actuality its fairly safe since better farming procedures (not feeding your pigs raw meat) cut down on trichinosis infections.
>>7585359
yeah i mean contamination from handle of the tongs is the least of your worry when the handles of all the fridges/drawers have gunk/sauces n shit crusted all over them from 2 weeks ago and the guy cooking your food hasnt worn gloves in 3 hours
>>7585413
>Because chicken is generally a lot more dangerous when raw than beef is.
This is actually not true. Pretty much all raw meats are equally hospitable to bacteria. The difference is that we are used to eating rare (or even raw) beef since that suits our tastes, while we rarely eat rare chicken simply because rare chicken doesn't really taste very good.
Refer to the section on Food Safety in Modernist Cuisine; it's towards the end of the first volume.
>>7585424
Yes but different animals are more susceptible to different bacteria which makes them more or less dangerous to eat raw. Chickens are especially susceptible to salmonella.
It can also occur in beef but there is a much higher chance of it being in poultry. That being said there is a breed of chicken that is immune to salmonella and can be eaten raw but your average chicken will probably fuck your shit up if undercooked.
>>7585356
unacceptable as far as food safety goes
>>7585306
Same here.
>>7585453
just as good as boil sanitizing
>>7585285
I stick the tongs in the fire for a bit.
I'm a bit weird about handling raw meat due to all the meat handling freak outs while growing up. I hunt too, so that makes it interesting.
I know people who handle raw meat and touch drawers, sink handles, paper towel rolls, surfaces, etc and it drives me crazy.
>>7585285
Reminder to cook everything to above 63C to purge it of wee beasties
>>7586414
Fellow Scot?
>>7586418
>tfw we are surrounded by all these people who have never had a roll and slice
Whole steaks? Almost nothing to worry about.
Ground beef? Always practice food safety here. Anything ground, actually, you want to be especially careful with.
