Is this food TOXIC???

[cracker39]

Maybe this should have been posted under Recipes...

My wife is preparing a frozen crock pot meal that I bought. You just put all of the ingredients into the crock pot and cook. But, she noticed something odd in the instructions.

Twice, it instructs the preparer to "wash hands". You'd think that would wash your hands before starting, but no, the instructions follow two of the steps. Since in the next steps following "wash hands", you are touching only a package and a measuring cup, One might presume that the instructions might mean that following the stirring of ingredients, you need to wash your hands because you may have gotten some of the ingredients on your hands. Why? Are the ingredients toxic? Do I really want to eat this meal? It does make one wonder...

[/b]

I put in the yellow arrows to note the instructions to wash hand.

[Ira]

Maybe the BAG is toxic?

[rbeemer]

Cracker,
The chicken is loose inside the back which is then in contact with the outside of sauce and dumpling bags. Since it is raw chicken yo need to wash your hands after touching those bags to keep from contaminating your kitchen and utensils that do not get hot enough to kill the bad things.

[cracker39]

By Golly, Rick, that may just be the right answer. Thanks.

[packerz4]

Cracker,
The chicken is loose inside the back which is then in contact with the outside of sauce and dumpling bags. Since it is raw chicken yo need to wash your hands after touching those bags to keep from contaminating your kitchen and utensils that do not get hot enough to kill the bad things.

yep, it's all about "cross contamination". i'm a health inspector, and you'd be shocked to see how much cross contamination happens everywhere! even in the very best of production areas. i think the person who wrote the instructions was aware of this, and was trying to stop a problem before it happened.

even though you cook the food long enough and hot enough to kill anything in it, if you've contaminated the utensils and kitchen area, you may be dealing with a food borne illness, and then the company that makes the product gets the credit for making everyone sick... when it wasn't the finished product at all, but the results of the prep work...

remember 1 out of 2 chicken products contains salmonella. (until killed by cooking to 165*F or higher)

respectfully,
tk

[asianflava]

Cross contamination is a big deal here at work. After working in this industry, you will be well aware of how to prevent it.

I usually grill meat with tongs. After it has been flipped over, I either use something else or wash the tongs. If you don't, you will always have "raw meat juice" on them. It may be a bit extreme but I like to be shure.

[Ira]

On a totally unrelated topic, my cousin is a bigwig with Purdue in Lancaster, PA.

He travels the country upgrading processing plants so they can produce new, delicious food products incorporating the beaks and toenails and such.

And I ain't kidding.

Anyone still hungry here?

[Joseph]

He travels the country upgrading processing plants so they can produce new, delicious food products incorporating the beaks and toenails and such.

Sounds like he's taking a page from China's book. They eat everything - bones, feet, nails, whatever. I actually ate a chicken foot in a Chinese restaurant - once. Memories of a scene from "China Beach."

Hey, it's all protein - grind it up so we don't know what it is and most people won't care. I'll take it over the artificial preservatives and the rest of the chemical crap they pump into most processed foods.

As for washing/changing tongs after every flip of the meat - that does seem a trifle extreme to me, bordering on the obsessive-compulsive. I've eaten plenty of raw meat and even when cooked I prefer to eat it "medium raw" anyway, so it doesn't much matter to me. I take more precautions with chicken, but not much - I make sure it's thoroughly cooked and I don't put it back on the same plate I brought it to the grill on, but that's about it.

Joseph