Am I being irrational about where my food comes from?

Question

I can't bring myself to eat cafeteria food or any meal that seems like its mass produced. The food smells funny and tastes gross! I was in the hospital for 4 days after a major surgery and I hardly ate anything the whole time I was there. I also have trouble eating at chain restaurants because the food is hardly ever made fresh. I won't eat many pre-packaged foods either. The only places I will eat are small, family run diners or take out places where I can see my food being prepared.

My husband says that I'm just too picky when it comes to food. I think its because when I was a kid we hardly ever ate out; my dad worked for the local gas company and got the opportunity to see inside the kitchens of A LOT of eating establishments. He would tell stories of how disgusting most of the kitchens were. The only clean places he really saw were small, family run places. With all the recent food safety recalls I think I have all the more reason to worry about who is handling my food.

Answer 1

A family-run restaurant or even your own kitchen can be susceptible to infection. People who bought that E. coli-tainted spinach probably thought fresh ingredients wouldn't put their health at risk. The fact that there are pandemics everyday in every city at restaurants is an indication that your anxiety is unwarranted. But please keep your passion for fresh food.

Answer 2

You know, laws have come a long, long way since you were a kid.  

I work for a company that provides food services to a university, and on a daily basis, in several different locations, as well as the central kitchen that handles the banquets and catered events for the university, as well as the cafeteria, I have seen nothing that would gross me out or make me question how my food is being processed.  I also have a ton of faith in chain restaurants, as I know they not only have to respond to local and federal laws and regulations, but typically most of them have to pass a rigid brand standards inspection to maintain their franchise license and to comply with that particular chain's standards.

I have actually found the OPPOSITE of what you are stating.

Yes, local mom and pop restaurants offer fresh ingredients, or ingredients that are not heavily processed, but the few "mom and pop" restaurants I have worked for, as well as some of the horror stories I have heard from vendors such as pest control, hood cleaners, and refrigeration repair men, just turns my stomach.

I worked for a restaurant, briefly, in Tucson where they stored their pies on the floor of the cooler, and often I would find bits of raw meat on the veggies, or I would find raw, unmarked chicken in an open bowl just sitting on top of lettuce.  The cook would often store  thick pots of hot food in the cooler (the general rule is no more than 4 inches deep, and the temp needs to come down to 70 degrees in two hours, and 40 degrees in 4 hours or it needs to be discarded).  

Also, many mom and pop restaurants do not operate with a HACCP plan in place, so they do not refuse damaged food products, or food products that come in at the wrong temperature, or do many mom and pops check their equipment until it totally fails and the health inspector ends up tossing all their food and tagging their equipment out.

I wouldn't bag on something you "heard stories about."  

Check your health inspection reports online, and educate yourself on food laws before you go on inconveniencing yourself.

My company prepares all of our cafeteria food fresh, from scratch, every day, all day, 24 hour operation.  They do so at all of their contracted sites - hospitals, employee cafeterias, schools, convention centers, stadiums and universities.  

It has really changed in the last 25 years.

Sorry if this sounds kind of dry or rude, but it's really frustrating when people make statements like this.  I have worked in the industry for 10 years, and I can give you a LIST of things that will make me walk out of a restaurant - and it starts with excessively dirty bathrooms and dining room floors, and ends with seeing employees touching their hair, chewing on pens, and eating in the service aisle, and not washing their hands.

Answer 3

I so feel you on this...I hate eating out these days.  Especially since my best friend's nephew told me that he pees on food at the restrurants he works.