Have you ever made someone sick?

[Claire]

I'm curious. Nowadays there is so much going on about food safety, and I can't help but wonder if anyone here ever has?

I've been cooking for 30 years, give or take, and my mom has for, well, all eternity. My grandmothers were both pretty bad cooks, according to everyone, but I don't think they ever made someone sick. And they all had food practices that would apall us today.

The only people who have ever sickened because of my food were those who I told to avoid foods on the table that I pointed out as something they should not eat. That is to say, I tell someone I know is lactose intolerant not to eat the friggin' cheese, told my mom not to eat that dish because there were seeds in it, etc; and in each case had provided tons of other stuff equally as delicious for them to eat.

My mom never poisoned someone, even though she used to stuff the turkey the night before (something I'd never do in a million years). I go out of my way to be more sanitary, but I sometimes wonder if I'm being silly.

Are we paranoid? How many of you have actually made someone sick because of bad practices?

 

[GB]

It is next to impossible to know if any of us has ever made anyone sick. Food poisoning has many many symptoms, some as mild as a headache and the symptoms can start 2 days after you eat the food that causes it. Food poisoning can also only be diagnosed by a doctor who does the test to tell if you have food poisoning, so unless every person you have ever fed goes to the doctor for every little ach and pain they have ever had and gets tested then there is simply no way to know if you have ever made someone sick.

 

[chefkathleen]

Not that I know of.
GB is right too.

 

[licia]

I've gotten sick after eating at a lot of different places but I don't think it was the food - I think I have some kind of contrary condition that just hasn't been diagnosed. The last time was 2 weeks ago when I was taken by ems to the hospital after just finishing my breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I'm still waiting for my insurance to approve some diagnostics.

 

[Andy M.]

After Christmas Dinner one year, all four of us shared the two bathrooms for a couple of hours until the Immodium D kicked in. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning.

 

[Scotch]

Not that I know of, but one can never be sure. How do you know, for example, that the package of chicken breasts you just picked up at the store weren't left on the loading dock overnight, unrefrigerated? Or maybe that bag of baby spinach you bought was contaminated with salmonella or e-coli? IMHO, people who insist that no one has ever gotten sick from their cooking either don't know what they're talking about or are simply engaging in wishful thinking.

 

[Alix]

Made myself sick numerous times before I realized that pineapple and chicken do not mix well in my system. Have also made myself sick eating coleslaw that had been sitting out all night. Meh...you don't think so clearly at a wedding reception at about 2AM. Oops. I survived but there were moments I wanted to die.

 

[Chef Munky]

Nobody has ever mentioned getting sick from something I made.
Maybe fear kept them from mentioning that.
I've had food poisoning from bad mayo.. Never prayed like that in my life!

Some might not know that they have a food allergy/ lactose intolerant.And mistake it as some mild form of food poisoning.
Some medications can't be taken with certain foods.Prilosec and grapefruit juice being one of them.

Munky.

 

[TheMetalChef]

I'm not aware of making anyone sick with my food. Not saying it didn't happen...

That said, I've made stir-fry dishes where I was trying a new chili paste/sauce and gone a little heavy handed...

Those are the kind of nights where I really wish we

- had a second bathroom
- didn't have the main bathroom right across the hall from our bedroom...

 

[kitchenelf]

Four of us were sick one night in college after a big spaghetti dinn.......never mind...it was the bourbon!

Like GB said...with symptoms that aren't always what we expect it's really hard to tell. I've had food poisoning many times. The worst was in Thailand. Never got far from the bathroom for 12 (yes 12) straight hours and after 4 hours it's simply not very pretty!!!! I couldn't turn over nor sit up by myself for 3 days because my stomach muscles were in knots and so sore.

 

[Uncle Bob]

In the 2nd grade I kissed a little girl after lunch one day. As I was being escorted to the principle's office she exclaimed, "You make me sick"
When I returned to the room, she was Ok...Either a very fast recovery or she wasn't sick to begin with....

 

[Mark Webster]

I think that today we as an industry are probably the safest yet when it comes to preventing food borne illness because of the unannounced health inspections, the mandatory SERVSAFE courses which both make for a better awareness. But there are some restaurants that may not follow the right practices too closely and thats when there are problems. Locally here the TV Stations have really stepped up their campaign to highlight restaurants doing poor jobs in the area of sanitation. I have known people outside of the business in their own homes that don't refrigerate items properly, don't re-heat leftovers properly etc. and when I ask them about it they almost always tell me "I have never gotten sick, so I must be doing it right". Or what about the people that really don't know how to cook a whole tom turkey and they try cooking it in there ovens at 150-160 degrees over night.... Yikes!

 

[chefkathleen]

Servsafe, what a great thing it is. And the pop in inspections from the health dept. were always welcome in my kitchens. My newbie employees would always get their panties in a bunch over them. I always told them, listen, if you're doing it the right way to begin with, there's nothing to panic about. Proud to say I never got a bad score.

 

[Mark Webster]

Your so right. No matter what time they arrive you should be ready and not worried that items are not covered/dated properly.

 

[Claire]

I suppose I should have said, "as far as I know", and I did put in the disclaimer about people who eat foods they are not supposed to eat because of medical problems that I either didn't know about or had already warned them about (allergies, diverticulitis, lactose intolerant). For example, many times my lactose intollerant friends (and I've a few) have decided it was worth the later pain to have some cheese or a cream sauce, but they had plenty of other options. I know nut and shellfish allergies are true killers, and if I know in advance, don't even use them in the kitchen when cooking for people I know have those allergies. I once invited (once? who am I kidding, I often do this) invited a total stranger for thanksgiving dinner, and he came in and inspected my kitchen! He was a relative of a neighbor, and they hadn't said a word about food allergies. He was looking for peanuts. Huh? I showed him the cupboard, and actually had to think for a few minutes, but no, I hadn't touched the jar of peanuts nor the peanut oil. But why didn't the guy next door tell me, "My brother has a lot of food allergies."?????? In fact, peanut products do not play in my traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and the man didn't get sick.