I was reading through the BBC food message board the other day, and a chef has posted saying that he had no problem at all with cutting up raw chicken and making ham sandwiches on the same cutting board with only a quick wipe with paper to clear off the chicken.

He said people worry too much about bugs - apparently he has various hygiene certificates.

Another poster had posted that they use a different board for raw meat, and he said this was "ill informed".

Would you agree with the chef, or the person that shows caution and uses a separate board for raw meat, such as chicken?

I've always understood you need to be extra careful when handling raw chicken?

Skillet, this guy is an idiot. Who was he and where is his restaurant? We had all better stay way clear of this salmonella breeding gorund.

Hi GFLF

I don't know where he works, but if his board name is anything to go by, somewhere in London. I think it's a club of some kind. Unfortunately, there were no other details to narrow it down with.

Hopefully there aren't too many people like him around - I'm always a little wary when eating out - and some of the things I have seen posted by people in the catering trade have made me wonder how safe it is.

But I like to think the majority are responsible people who know what they are doing and show proper care.

Totally scary, skillet. Hopefully the post was just in jest? Salmonella poisoning is not very pleasant and can be life threatening to many.

It makes you want tougher and tougher inspections of restaurants, doesn't it?

No the post wasn't in jest - his argument was that when the chicken comes out the fridge it will be low in bacteria and that as long as the sandwich wasn't hanging around too long it would be perfectly OK to eat it because it takes time for the bugs to breed.

There was also a debate about chopping boards in the same thread and the same chef and a couple of others were arguing that the standards kitchens have to work to in relation to cross contamination (different boards and that) are really unnecessary but they have to do it because EU regulations say so.

Skillet. The one thing about chopping boards that has come as a surpise is that the old fashioned wood boards turn out to be more hygienic than the plastic ones [assuming they are clened of course].

Apparently the wood has an antibacterial effect not present with plastic boards.

Maybe we should all keep kisher kitchens. I'm grossed out about the chicken

It isn't worth the risk though is it, as GFL said Salmonella poisoning is horrible. He may have a technical point about the breeding time of bugs (I don't know about that) but I don't think that is good practice at all.

well they do say that most chickens have salmonella with in them and even Gordon Ramsay or Jamie oliver won't touch under cooked chicken for the risk of being very ill, and i can say from first hand Salmonella is awful, i had it in 1983 and was in hospital needing drips,because it was so bad,so i thinkl its wrong for people to be so arrogant about it.The suffering you get from its is awful.