Another Raw Chicken Story

So, today I decided to make chicken for dinner using the store brand equivalent of Shake 'n Bake. I thawed the boneless, skinless chicken breast that I had in the freezer. I planned to wear rubber gloves as I always do when handling raw meat. However, when I went to get a pair out of the box, it was empty. Don't you just love it when the kids use something up and don't throw the box away so you don't know they are all gone? Anyway, I ended up using my bare hands. I haven't used shake 'n bake for a while and I forgot how messy it is. The crumbs were flying everywhere. It got all over my shirt. I felt some bounce off my forehead and it also got all over the stovetop where I was working. After thoroughly washing my hands, I put the chicken in the oven, changed my shirt, wiped my forehead and the stovetop (with antibacterial wipes, of course). I also used a wipe to get under my fingernails really well. I may be paranoid, but that's better than getting sick from salmonella.

Raw Chicken

Today I was at the store in line behind a woman with 2 kids. As she was unloading her cart, I noticed that the raw whole chicken she picked up (which was even bagged) was dripping all over the floor. I informed her of this and she carefully handed it to the cashier who scanned it and bagged it. If my hands weren't full, I would have offered her some hand sanitizer. After all, raw chicken can contain salmonella. She just went about her business as if it was nothing.

I looked at the checkstand and the cashier's hands thinking there is raw chicken juice there now. I considered getting in another line, but all the other lines were long. The cashier did not wipe the checkstand or his hands before moving on to my purchases. So, wierdo that I am, I grabbed a couple cart wipes on my way out the door. When I got to my car, I wiped off everything that I bought and threw the bags in the trash. Fortunately, I didn't buy very much. I bought some chips and a sub sandwich and I didn't want myself or my kids to risk handling the packaging and possibly transferring salmonella to our hands. I've had food poisoning in the past and that's something I would rather not ever experience again. Too bad this particular store doesn't have self-checkouts.