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walkitouthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/01/17/spice-jar-germs/
“ In the study, researchers watched 371 people prepare seasoned turkey burgers — which had been inoculated with a harmless tracer bacteria often used as a “surrogate” for the norovirus — and a premade salad, using sterilized kitchens of different sizes, from apartment-style ones to teaching kitchens in extension centers. Once the meals were done, the scientists collected swabs from 12 surfaces, including utensils and countertops.
Most surfaces tested positive 20 percent of the time or less, compared with the spice jars’ 48 percent. And the bacteria found on the spices was in higher concentrations than in other areas, according to the study, although cutting boards and trash-bin lids were also found in similar concentrations.”
Article goes on to note that this was a surprise to the researchers, and then they speculated about why and advocated for handwashing. At no point in the entire article were any of the following explanations suggested:
These people learned to cook from a book or a website, and did not have an experienced cook in their presence to give advice while they were learning.
Their teaching materials did not tell them about clean hand / dirty hand or wet hand / dry hand
Their teaching materials did not tell them to pre-measure spices before handling things like raw meat.
Nor were any of the following mitigating measures suggested:
See above.
I don’t know exactly what the study participants were told to do, but I’m guessing they opened a package of ground turkey and then sprinkled spices in, formed burgers and cooked them. They almost certainly cleaned their hands before touching the salad and after they were done forming the burgers. They equally almost certainly did not clean their hands between touching the raw turkey and touching the spice jars because otherwise how did they get this result. If they had dumped the turkey into a bowl, cleaned their hands, sprinkled all the spices in, put all the spices away, and then mixed the turkey by hand and then washed their hands, they would not have had this result. Gloves don’t fix this problem, either, so I have no issue with failure to mention gloves. It’s possibly they put the turkey in the bowl, cleaned their hands, sprinkled the spices in, mixed the turkey by hand, and then put the spices away or, worse, sprinkled, mixed, sprinkled, mixed, etc.
Anyway.
Just more handwashing is unlikely to help. Someone needs to get in there and do the Ah ah ah no don’t touch that your hands are dirty until they internalize it, ideally _after_ teaching them one of the correct procedures (premeasure, segregate hands, segregate activities, or some combination thereof). I’ve had to ah ah ah a bunch of people I’ve cooked with over the years. In chemistry class, too, for that matter. This is not easy stuff, but it’s gotta be done.
I would imagine that learning to cook from YouTube/Tiktok/blogs during a pandemic has definitely aggravated the situation.
“ In the study, researchers watched 371 people prepare seasoned turkey burgers — which had been inoculated with a harmless tracer bacteria often used as a “surrogate” for the norovirus — and a premade salad, using sterilized kitchens of different sizes, from apartment-style ones to teaching kitchens in extension centers. Once the meals were done, the scientists collected swabs from 12 surfaces, including utensils and countertops.
Most surfaces tested positive 20 percent of the time or less, compared with the spice jars’ 48 percent. And the bacteria found on the spices was in higher concentrations than in other areas, according to the study, although cutting boards and trash-bin lids were also found in similar concentrations.”
Article goes on to note that this was a surprise to the researchers, and then they speculated about why and advocated for handwashing. At no point in the entire article were any of the following explanations suggested:
These people learned to cook from a book or a website, and did not have an experienced cook in their presence to give advice while they were learning.
Their teaching materials did not tell them about clean hand / dirty hand or wet hand / dry hand
Their teaching materials did not tell them to pre-measure spices before handling things like raw meat.
Nor were any of the following mitigating measures suggested:
See above.
I don’t know exactly what the study participants were told to do, but I’m guessing they opened a package of ground turkey and then sprinkled spices in, formed burgers and cooked them. They almost certainly cleaned their hands before touching the salad and after they were done forming the burgers. They equally almost certainly did not clean their hands between touching the raw turkey and touching the spice jars because otherwise how did they get this result. If they had dumped the turkey into a bowl, cleaned their hands, sprinkled all the spices in, put all the spices away, and then mixed the turkey by hand and then washed their hands, they would not have had this result. Gloves don’t fix this problem, either, so I have no issue with failure to mention gloves. It’s possibly they put the turkey in the bowl, cleaned their hands, sprinkled the spices in, mixed the turkey by hand, and then put the spices away or, worse, sprinkled, mixed, sprinkled, mixed, etc.
Anyway.
Just more handwashing is unlikely to help. Someone needs to get in there and do the Ah ah ah no don’t touch that your hands are dirty until they internalize it, ideally _after_ teaching them one of the correct procedures (premeasure, segregate hands, segregate activities, or some combination thereof). I’ve had to ah ah ah a bunch of people I’ve cooked with over the years. In chemistry class, too, for that matter. This is not easy stuff, but it’s gotta be done.
I would imagine that learning to cook from YouTube/Tiktok/blogs during a pandemic has definitely aggravated the situation.