Questions: Why would a family use a poop knife?

Sarah Montgomery of Complex writes that everybody poops. But not everyone uses the same tools to carry out that biological necessity. One Reddit user recently discovered that a tool he’s been using his whole life was not, in fact, a staple in bathrooms around the world.

Cue the “poop knife,” a mechanism used by @LearnedButt’s family to break up their apparently gargantuan shits. “My family poops big,” he wrote in a post. “If anyone has laid a mega-poop, you know that sometimes it won’t flush. It lays across the hole in the bottom of the bowl and the vortex of draining water merely gives it a spin as it mocks you.” What imagery.

The user went on to explain via Reddit how his family has used an old kitchen knife for decades to slice up their fecal matter. The knife hung on a nail in their laundry room, constantly waiting for its next big task. “It was normal to walk through the hallway and have someone call out ‘hey, can you get me the poop knife?’” he explains. “I thought it was standard kit. You have your plunger, your toilet brush, and your poop knife.”

Gross.

How do you clean your knives?

Improperly cleaned and sanitized chef knives present a potential contamination risk and a source for foodborne illness.

How-to-clean-a-kitchen-knife-300x200This study compared the efficacies of two cleaning methods (three-compartment manual dishwashing and sanitizer wiping) at removing food soils from contaminated chef knives.

Knife-washing procedures were standardized after observing knife-cleaning behavior in a kitchen. Adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence was used to measure levels of organic soils. Results indicated that the three-compartment manual dishwashing was more effective at removing food soils from knife surfaces than the sanitizer wiping (P < .0001). This study also assessed the influence of other factors on the soil removal efficacies.

A comparison of the efficacy of chef knife-cleaning methods

Journal of Foodservice Business Research; Published online: 29 Jun 2016; DOI:10.1080/15378020.2016.1198611

Xiaodi Suna, Carl Behnkea, Barbara Almanzaa & Douglas Nelsona

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15378020.2016.1198611

L.A. Times says smart knife is on its way

This week, Neil Young, the greatest rock and roller of all time, released his version of the iPod, the Pono, at CES. The L.A. Times, equally enthralled by electronics buzz, predicts the future in food tech. Stuff like a smart fridges that generate shopping lists for you and suggest meals based on its contents.

And a magic negative ion shooting, bacteria fighting knife. I look forward to the efficacy data.

These ideas may seem far out, but they’re already being worked on: A smart knife that tests food’s freshness, nutrient content and bacteria level when you cut into it and keeps it fresher by infusing it with negative ions.

 

Is that a knife in your Jolly Rancher or are you just happy to see me

A Northern California mother is raising safety concerns after saying she found an old, rusty razor blade in a bag of Jolly Rancher candy.

According to AP, Amy Hu says she bought the bag of Crunch N Chew candy at Santa Clara Safeway, and after eating a couple of pieces pulled out a dull 3-inch blade, partially wrapped in white tape.

KGO-TV reports that candy maker Hershey has not issued a recall. The company issued a statement saying Hershey believes it was an isolated case and accidental.

The package was completely sealed and the wrapper indicates it was manufactured in Brazil. Hershey did not immediately return a phone message and email seeking details Friday.

Hu says she was offered three replacement bags of candy. But as the mother of 1-year-old and 5-week-old girls, she says she is not seeking compensation but rather assurance that the candy is safe.

British diner threatened to use knife on pub staff over ‘below par’ sandwich

A diner threatened to return to an English pub armed with a knife after being served a "below par" beef and onion sandwich, a court has heard.

Clive Davies, 54, left the White Horse pub in Cambridge and showed employees at a nearby grocery store a seven-inch blade he said he planned to use on the staff who had served him the unsatisfactory sandwich, the Cambridge News reported today.

Employees at the store called police and Davies, who has a previous conviction for manslaughter, was apprehended in another local pub, the Lion and Lamb.

He pleaded guilty to threatening and abusive language, possessing a bladed article in a public place, and possession of cannabis.

Do you like safefood Ireland’s new advert?

The Don’t Take Risks campaign focuses on food hygiene in the domestic kitchen. To help minimise the risks of food poisoning in the home, the  advertising combines dramatic kitchen images and an ominous voiceover with a journey into the microscopic world of food poisoning bacteria to deliver powerful messages to consumers.

Most people think they wash their hands and utensils properly while preparing food and that they cook meat and chicken thoroughly. The truth is, all too often, they don’t. This campaign is a powerful, visual reminder to consumers of the dangers of poor food safety behaviour, as they may often be unaware of how their day to day food preparation habits can cause themselves and others harm.
By following some simple food hygiene practices, consumers can help prevent the spread of food poisoning bacteria around the kitchen.

A recent safefood study recorded the food hygiene practices of 120 participants to look at the way in which people prepare meals in their homes. The participants, who were recruited from throughout the island of Ireland, prepared two meals: a homemade beef burger and a warm chicken salad.

There were two phases of the study:

* phase 1 – conducted in test kitchen and
* phase 2 – conducted in participants’ own homes.

Each phase involved 60 participants and there were equal numbers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

In the test kitchen study, participants were asked to prepare the meals as they would normally at home and swabs were taken at various points in the kitchen and samples were taken of the salad and cooked meat. The swabs and samples were analysed for the presence of raw meat bacteria. Throughout the session, the participants’ food handling practices were observed via web-cams.

In the domestic kitchen study, arrangements were made for the researchers to visit at a suitable time for the participants to prepare the required meals.

Participants’ food handling practices were observed via web-cams. Swabs were taken from four kitchen areas as well as participants’ hands and from samples of the prepared meals to test for the presence of bacteria.

The research findings highlighted real food safety issues in the kitchen relating to food preparation and hygiene, with highly risky behaviours around handwashing, preventing cross-contamination via kitchen utensils such as knives and chopping boards, and inadequate care taken to ensure that the chicken and mince were properly cooked.

For example:
* 84% of people did not wash hands properly after handling raw chicken
* 72% did not properly wash the knife used in preparing raw chicken before reusing it on salad vegetables
* more than a third of what participants considered to be ‘cooked’ beef burgers were contaminated with raw meat bacteria
* more than half of consumers did not thoroughly wash the chopping board used to prepare raw mince before reusing it to prepare salad
* one third of participants still had raw meat bacteria contamination on their hands after preparing the meals.