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?
if she hasnt killed anybody yet thats a pretty impressive record.
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.
Angel
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.
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!
But, hey, anything is worth a try.
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...
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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