Handwashing and Food Prep

Ok, this really grossed me out when I realized it, but think about this:

We're taught to wash our hands before we eat, after we touch raw meat, and after we go to the bathroom. Having had my fair share of experiences in the ladies' room watching women walk out after taking care of business without washing their hands, it definitely made me a bit of a germ-phobe.  And then there's the back-of-the-hand snot wipe (men do that a lot)...and then the same guy is stacking the butter at the supermarket.

If I were to extrapolate and estimate that the same percentage of people in every line of work, in every place in the US (won't guess on other countries) have the same washing practices, it makes you take a look at the contents of your house a bit differently.

whoa, what?

Yeah, the contents of your own house.

I don't mean after a party.  I'm wiping down every doorknob and light switch after a party.  I'm talking more about something much, much worse:  your kitchen.

Now, I've got dust, but I would say I'm pretty clean overall.  There aren't dirty dishes filling the counters like other people's houses I've been to.  The toilets are clean.  We're about "average" (well, hopefully cleaner than than, but you get my meaning).

So, when I grabbed the milk jug out of the frig this morning and realized that I never washed that off- ever- it really grossed me out....because then I started thinking of ALL the food boxes and jars and containers that we don't wash - ever- but handle like they're clean.  Spice containers, PB jars, jam- bags of cheese...everything in your frig and pantry.  If you think of all those people that have touched those things before you...or just spilled milk that's soured all over the outside of the milk jug- or set it in those completely clean grocery shelves...well, it just makes you think that perhaps we're washing our hands at the wrong time.  You wash your hands, and then handle the box of cereal- well, why did you bother washing your hands?!


Or that we need germicidal lights in the kitchen.

Perhaps the "24 hour flu" that people get (which is really food poisoning) is really due to handling dirty food containers.

Just makes you think, doesn't it?