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I have printed out safe food handling rules for her and she refuses to read them. I have had people in the food industry talk to her but she refuses to listen. She says "I've never killed anybody yet." My father still works and has a long day and has no energy at the end of the day to deal with her issues. If I contact public health can they help me?

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have you ever saw many pics of a french home kitchen? wood stains, coal stains, pots that have never rested long enough to be washed, and fyi, breadbakers NEVER wash their breadpans. the burned on residue is like neanderthal teflon. no offense but mom can probably cook circles around you.
if she hasnt killed anybody yet thats a pretty impressive record.
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You also Don't Want to stop her enjoying cooking - it'll happen soon enough, one more thing she has to leave behind, don't hasten the day. Gradually you'll find you're having to take over anyway, so ease into it. I think this is a very good example of a situation where you need to pick the right battles - and then don't lecture her, help her.

Besides, she might still have things to teach you, mightn't she? There's more to the gentle art of cookery than infection control alone.
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After watching a friend's 7 year old child die from E.coli contaminated food, this is just not a battle I would back down on. I would eat nothing she cooks, nor allow my family (including her husband) to eat any of it either. It's not worth the potential suffering and consequences.

Angel
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We have made it a family rule not to eat anything mom cooks. Because she has limited vision, she can't tell when stuff has gone bad. I wait for her to go to the bathroom and then I open the fridge and follow my nose to the rotten stuff and ditch it in the trash. Usually in the fridge it is stuff on a lower shelf way in the back. In the cupboards, it's stuff on a high shelf way in the back. Public Health won't come out without a court order or written complaint or somebody ends up in the ER. You become the food police when she is not looking. Be alert for bugs in pasta and beans. ALWAYS check the dates on mixes, canned goods and condiments. NEVER use those creamers they steal from restaurants. Eggs? I put them in cold water, if they float, they are bad.
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You are home,, take over the cooking!! Tell her it's good practice for you to do it!
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Most of these safe practices were not as critical in the past because back then farms were not so crowded and beef, particularly ground beef was not so contaminated with E.Coli. etc. So, it is hard for her to change practices, even more because she can't see the need. I would say help her cook when you can and rinse the cutting utensils off and do the slicing, and/or toast the bread and cook the vegetables. Put some ice around the potato salad. See if you can get the defrosting done via microwave on half or lower power or pull it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge the day before, then the hot water phase would be very brief and less likely to incubate bacteria too.

E coli is very bad in food, can be deadly; poultry and ground meat is worse risk for that than meat left whole such as steaks, or fish. Staph (from the potato salad) not as deadly, but it can make you good and sick for several hours at least.

Maybe she would listen to someone who could explain why things have changed and she was not necessarily wrong all those years to be more relaxed about the safe food rules that we are today.
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Ah, I see on your profile that you are caring for your mother, and she has dementia. Give up the effort to re-educate her. Ain't gonna happen.

Maybe she can be in charge of planning menus. If you do this a little in advance you will know what to take out of the freezer in plenty of time for it to thaw safely in the fridge. Can she help with the shopping? Then you can say, "You did the hard parts, Mom, planning the meals and shopping. I'll do my part by following your recipes to cook the food."

A person with poor hygiene habits and dementia should not be allowed to put the rest of the household and herself at risk for food-borne illness. This won't be easy, but I think it is worth a lot of effort. Good luck!
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Somehow talking to a woman who HAS DEMENTIA about germs from the Pacific Ocean and microbes having sex on her counter doesn't sound like a practical approach to me, with or without good background music! :D

But, hey, anything is worth a try.
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I have to ask how old is your Mom?

I clean out old food from my Mom's fridge when she's not looking... I bleach down her counters as frequently I can, without alarming her... She's 91 and at this point if the germs didn't kill her.... She's made it this long...
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LivingSouth, there is nothing in your profile describing your care situation, and I can't remember ... does your mother have dementia? Do you all live together? Does she do the cooking?

Can you ease her out of the cleanup job? "You've done this for so many years, Mom, that we hereby degree you are retiring from cleaning up the kitchen! Hooray!" Make a ceremony out of it. Give her a suitable novelty pin, and "hang up" her dishtowel.
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