My passion for cooking was sparked by days spent watching Food Network and Cooking Channel shows, learning what types of foods existed and how to make them. Today, we are so fortunate to live in a time where there are countless videos teaching us exactly how to make the food we may have never even seen in our lives. Whenever I run across something in a recipe I’ve never done before, finding the answer is simply a Google search away. However, in those same videos teaching us how to cook, they are also neglecting to teach us how to cook safely.
Food safety experts Edgar Chambers IV and Curtis Maughan from Kansas State University and Sandria Godwin from Tennessee State University researched 100 cooking shows featuring 24 popular celebrity chefs to find just how bad food safety practices are on the video screen. Turns out, they’re pretty horrendous.
The researchers focused on recommended practices from the Fight Bac! Program, looking at specific positive and negative behaviors involved in clean, separate, cook, and chill. Every episode had to feature a meat dish. Below are some of the highlights from the research.
Hand Washing
Only two chefs, Giada De Laurentiis and Sunny Anderson, were ever shown washing their hands properly. Many more washed their hands, including Jamie Oliver (a whopping 13 times in four episodes!), but did so in a way where contamination was still possible. Many at least mentioned to wash your hands, but 21 of the 24 chefs never washed their hands while handling uncooked meat for an entire episode—yikes!
Here’s a quick refresher on washing your hands: Wet your hands. Lather your hands with soap (and don’t forget the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails). Scrub your hands for 20 seconds. Finally, rinse and dry your hands with a clean towel.
#SpoonTip: A paper towel is your best bet here. It may not be as environmentally friendly, but a University of Arizona study found that 89% of kitchen towels carried coliform bacteria and 25 percent carried E. coli., and you certainly don’t want that on your food.
Watch Your Hands
Chefs are doing more than simply not washing their hands. They are also licking their fingers and touching dirty non-food items like clothing and hair in between handling food without washing their hands. Chef Curtis Stone was found licking his fingers and touching his head sixteen times in eight episodes.
At least chefs aren’t using their phones or computers while cooking like many of us are used to. If you do have to touch something else that may be dirty, be sure to wash your hands before you handle food again.
Cutting Board Cleanliness
In a food-safe kitchen, different cutting boards should be determined for cutting meats and cutting fresh produce. And when it comes to cutting raw meats, you need to wash the board in between meats to avoid risking cross-contamination. It turns out Ching-He Huang is the best at this, doing so seven times out of six episodes.
Using a Thermometer
When it comes to cooking meat, not everyone reaches for the thermometer to check doneness, including celebrity chefs. In fact, only Alton Brown, Michael Symon, and Emeril Lagasse were the only ones to consider using a thermometer. All of the chefs used some sort of indicator, whether that be color, time, or texture, but a thermometer is the only way to ensure your food is done.
Here’s the bottom line: food safety is a serious issue. One in six Americans is exposed to foodborne illness every year, which can range from stomachaches to death. Celebrity chefs can help by simply mentioning and featuring more of these practices in their videos. At the end of the day, food safety at home comes down to you practicing safe food preparation.