Celebrity chefs are cooking up poor food safety habits, according to a Kansas State University study.
Kansas State University food safety experts Edgar Chambers IV and Curtis Maughan, along with Tennessee State University’s Sandria Godwin, recently published “Food safety behaviors observed in celebrity chefs across a variety of programs” in the Journal of Public Health. The researchers viewed 100 cooking shows with 24 popular celebrity chefs and found several unclean food preparation behaviors.
“Twenty-three percent of chefs licked their fingers; that’s terrible,” said Chambers, professor and director of the Sensory Analysis Center at Kansas State University. “Twenty percent touched their hair or dirty clothing or things and then touched food again.”
The chefs’ most common food safety hazards included lack of hand-washing, not changing the cutting boards between raw meat and vegetables that wouldn’t be cooked, and not using a meat thermometer to check meat doneness.
“Washing your hands is not a one-time thing,” Chambers said. “We saw some chefs wash their hands in the beginning before preparing food, but they didn’t wash their hands during food preparation when they should have.”
Chambers said this is not modeling good behavior for viewers. Celebrity chefs’ purpose is to entertain and educate about food preparation techniques and helpful kitchen hints, which should include proper food safety practices, he said.
“We hear about safety issues from unclean food or when something has gotten through the food system,” Chambers said. “It can be detrimental to young children and the elderly, but many times when people think they have the 24-hour stomach flu, it’s often from poor food preparation practices.”
According to the study, about 1 in 6 Americans are exposed to foodborne illnesses each year, which can economically and socially affect consumers. Practices promoted by the Fight Bac! consumer food safety education campaign, which the researchers used to evaluate the chefs’ food safety practices, can help improve public health. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the campaign encourages cooks to clean, separate, cook and chill to help prevent foodborne illness.
cont.
Oliver Martinez
“All celebrity chefs have to do is mention these things as they go along: ‘Remember to wash your hands,’ ‘Don’t forget to change out your cutting board,’ or ‘I washed my hands here’ — which some chefs did do,” Chambers said. “They don’t have to show it on television but they should remind viewers that there are safety issues involved in food preparation.”
No chef received a perfect score but the researchers noticed some were more careful in the kitchen, which included more safe practices than others did. Chambers said that viewers may know proper food safety, but because people are creatures of habit, they may rely on practices that they are familiar with instead of adopting safe recommendations. Celebrity chefs can help make viewers more likely to use their food safety practices, he said.
“I think that celebrity chefs have a responsibility for entertaining us, but they also have a responsibility to give us good food,” Chambers said. “We want celebrity chefs to teach us how to make food that not only tastes good but is good for us — and part of that is good food safety.”
The USDA and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture funded the research.
During 2016, the Chipotle Mexican Grill revised its food handling procedures after dealing with dealt with E. coli and norovirus outbreaks and the resulting restaurant closings and sickness claims by customers.
FIN
Tyler Perry
My friend is a cook at a Michelin Star restaurant and admitted to me that he touches cooked ready to serve food with his bare hands all the time, which is obviously a no-no but when you're running a marathon like his kitchen is you don't have time to get gloves.
Sad truth is if you want to avoid those errors being made you're better off eating at home or Fast Food where they drill into the employees heads to follow safety protocol.
Ryder James
Just like many celebrities, chef or not, it's not always in your best interest to copy them. They're giving you a recipe and nothing more, unless they shill their own food prep methods and techniques in which case they should be held accountable for that much.
Still, if you're an avid fan of cooking and you don't wash your hands constantly or mix raw meats with raw veg you're an idiot and probably deserve it.
Basic germ theory should be common knowledge this ain't the fucking 16the century.
James Wright
What are they doing wrong in this photo?
Ian Rodriguez
-lack of hair nets -raw food stored above cooked food on the rack behind the cooks (thus it's possible for raw juices to drip from a higher tray onto already cooked food on a lower tray
-someone would probably comment about gloves, but I'm of the opinion that bare hands + handwashing is superior.
-I hope that they have a separate set of tongs for the "cooked" food and aren't using the same tongs to handle both the raw meat and the grilled meat, but it's kinda hard to tell from the photo if that really is a legit problem or not.
-minor gripe, but using disposable towels is more hygenic than using re-usable ones that need washing.
-I don't see a thermometer anywhere for verifying the proper cooking of the meat
-The raw food on the rack is not held cold, the grilled meat on the rack is not held warm
Jack Young
No not the gloves issue. There are still more.
Keep in mind they are outdoors.
Anthony Foster
Is touching ready to eat food with your bare hands bad? I see real chefs do it all the time but I do it because I actually wash my hands thoroughly when I'm done with whatever.
David Sanchez
>-raw food stored above cooked food on the rack behind the cooks (thus it's possible for raw juices to drip from a higher tray onto already cooked food on a lower tray
I try to address this issue time and time to everyone in the kitchen but nobody gives a shit. Quite infuriating dealing with ignorant people tbqh
Christopher Reed
That's normal. People act like you can't scratch your ass while wearing gloves...
Eli Thompson
they're black and not using gloves I'd be fine with a gloveless white but not a gloveless black
Isaiah Gutierrez
Christ, this is exactly why I don't go to restaurants anymore. I used to get the shits every other time I went, and now I know why. In the 2 years I've only eaten food I cooked at home, I haven't once had diarrhea or vomiting. It amazes me that people still eat at restaurants. Just disgusting.
Jayden Rivera
It's almost as if being a germophobe is irrational and obsessive cleanliness is completely unnecessary.
Jaxon Moore
There are niggers cooking.
Joshua Barnes
It's necessary in a kitchen environment where the vectors for food court contamination are highest. Not taking into account ingredients that have already been tainted prior to delivery, of course.
Gavin Lewis
Agreed. I rarely eat at restaurants knowing how shitty people can be. I've called out multiple fucksticks that dropped shit like chicken, steamed fucking rice on the floor to pick it back up and try to use it.
And they get salty when I tell them to toss it out. >head """chef""" gets pissy when he tries to lecture me on how to keep my workplace clean >cleaner than anyone on the line by a fuckin mile >gets butthurt when I literally call him a dumbass for placing a sauce container on the floor to put back on a cutting board. >unrelated but this is the same dumbass that insists on pre cooking chicken because chicken "takes too long to cook"
I don't understand it. In my house, I'm a dirty motherfucker in my house but fuckin hell. Can't you have the decency and common courtesy to try to ensure a customer (who is tipping you) gets a nice clean, quality meal?
Aaron Thomas
>Kansas State University food safety experts Edgar Chambers IV and Curtis Maughan, along with Tennessee State University’s Sandria Godwin, recently published “Food safety behaviors observed in celebrity chefs across a variety of programs” in the Journal of Public Health. The researchers viewed 100 cooking shows with 24 popular celebrity chefs and found several unclean food preparation behaviors. >“Twenty-three percent of chefs licked their fingers; that’s terrible,” said Chambers, professor and director of the Sensory Analysis Center at Kansas State University. “Twenty percent touched their hair or dirty clothing or things and then touched food again.” There's always a few potholes on the road to Flavortown.
Connor Edwards
>Judges food safety by watching cooking shows
Christ Americans are retarded. Do they really think the program is going to show 10+ minutes of chefs washing their hands? Were they watching cutthroat kitchen or some shit like that?
Joshua Miller
Most of you all seem far too concerned about food hygiene. Obviously, if you're handling large amounts of different meats and other ingredients in the same tiny kitchen things are going to get mixed up.
I feel bad for the cooks who work in restaurants with open kitchens; all that scrutiny and you have to be obsessive about cleanliness cause feeble speglords like you all think you'll die if you swallow a strand of hair
Adrian Carter
Why is he bleeding?
Wyatt Barnes
>meat thermometer either a Veeky Forums meme or your country being cucked, no need for that
I cook for old people. Honestly... Just serve it at 90 degree (Celsius) so no dickhead dies. The average restaurant goer doesn't know shit about food in the first place.
Eli Edwards
Using the same tongs to handle raw and cooked food
Asher Gonzalez
that's because high level chef uses high grade food. Also >muh meat temperature >muh touching hair give you Hitler aids grow the fuck up
Carson Price
>tfw customer stands at the register after they've already placed their order >tfw they're staring at you the whole time you're making their order >hand out the order >joke with coworkers about their behavior a couple minutes later >they're STILL FUCKING STANDING THERE for unknown reasons and heard everything I said
Jackson Wood
Do you need a pair of tongs for when they're half raw, half cooked?
Julian Green
>they stand there for another 10 minutes >don't touch their food at all >just staring into the open kitchen >watching food be prepared ... >years pass >still standing there watching >coworkers have come and go, but you're still there >customer just stands there watching ... >more years pass >customer dies from cancer
