Sleep is something so many people don't get enough of, and it's so important. And don't forget to drink water!

Currently having carrots and dip and wishing I was still living in Ballarat where it'd be cooler. The Aldi green goddess is actually pretty good!

Random question: What do you like to put as sauces in your sandwich?!

I'm sorry to hear about your break up, but still fueling your body with good, healthy food is so important. It's one of the first things aside from sleep that get thrown out the window after something like this.

I'd eat that and more if there's more. Great work, YiddishMcSquidish!

I was supposed to eat a burrito bowl, but someone at work didn't close the fridge properly last night, so I had sushi for lunch, and peanut butter on apple slices for dinner before working out. 🫠 Heading home for some frozen berries, yogurt, cashews and cinnamon, I think.

Maple syrup is pretty high up there. How about bannock, or butter tarts?

I got as far as "milkshake" and instantly continued on to

...brings all the boys to the yard

Thanks. 😭

Creamy potato salad!

Environmental Health Officer here... I had a classmate who did a study on this, specifically the Dyson-type where you stick your hands in downwards.

Next time, take a look at what's there in the 2mm gap on the bottom inside where the water, etc. collects, and where the forced air blows all that material. Remember to not breathe.

There's a reason why we direct food businesses to use paper towels in the kitchen, not hand dryers. Also, because ain't nobody got time to properly wash their hands for 30 seconds and then stand there completely drying their hands when they have 20+ chits on the go.

Edit: Forgot to mention, the majority of people don't know how to wash their hands properly, especially under the nails (both men and women). They've just used the hand dryer. Now you use the hand dryer. Multiply that by how many days it is before these things actually get cleaned and sanitised only to be contaminated again by the first user until the next clean and sanitise, if ever. Humans are filthy. 💀

This, and cockroaches are associated with allergies and respiratory issues. I can 100% confirm this because whenever I go in to a restaurant, if I start sneezing, I know they're there. Then I go looking, and I will find them because I can also smell them. 🤢

Also, I was reading this a few weeks ago: The Cockroach and Allergic Diseases.

Living in Australia, they are unavoidable, so yes, they do come inside the house sometimes. The American and German ones are the ones that reproduce very fast and can take over very quickly.

First of all, I'm sorry that you've had to go through this. It is devastating overall, and especially to your own mental health. I've lived in wildfire zones, and it is scary coming up to summer every year.

I do secondary impact assessments, so I look at things outside of structural. More things that look at public health concerns: Mould, food, smoke damage (to food, limited air assessment), septic systems.

How long has it been since power was out?

• All perishables will likely have to go

Heat and smoke damage:

• Some pantry foods will have to go as well, even the canned goods. Excessive heat can affect the integrity of the packaging, and smoke could have penetrated non-vacuum sealed items as well.
• Smoke and ash are hazardous to your health. Who knows what else other than wood smoke might have gotten around (plastics, etc.). Definitely wear a well fitted mask when you go in to the house for the first time, or follow guidance of the authorities.

Will clothes, bedding, mattress be salvageable?

• Depends on how smoke-affected they are. This part, I am not 100% sure on, as it would be case by case. If you have insurance, I'd just go with insurance claims. Trying to wash all the particulate matter might not be great for your laundry machine, either. You also can't wash a mattress. Unsure how well a commercial vacuum will handle smoke and ash.

Are there things that 100% should be discarded?

• All food in fridges, freezers
• Clothing, bedding, etc. that may have been left outside, I'd get rid of.

Can the house just be cleaned and aired out?

• This is something that the sanitarian (I think that's what we're called in the US) and air quality specialists can advise you. The AQ specialist can test the air to see if the house requires further remediation works, or if airing out is fine.

And is there anything specific structurally inside and outside I should look out for that might not be obvious?

• Sorry, I can't help with this one, but are you on septic or community sewer?
• For septic, you'll want a sanitarian and/or plumber to assess any damage. I'd ask the sanitarian if they're going to be out anyway to look at the rest of the place, and you won't have a plumber telling you that you need to fix/replace things that don't needing fixing or replacing. You'll not want sewage anywhere except where it's supposed to go. Plastic tanks and water tanks melt easy - you don't want it in your drinking water.

Things to keep in mind:

• Anything with a fan/condenser may need a proper clean, like fridges, freezers, kitchen exhaust canopies, portable and central AC and heaters, microwave, etc. Not only could it push the particulates around, but they could be accumulating particulates and could be a fire risk.
• Clean all surfaces including walls, ceilings, floors.

I haven't been called out to do SIA's in a while, but these are the things that have come to mind. I'll give it a think over the week and get back to you.

The issue is that the chicken bacteria (potentially salmonella or campylobacter) gets splashed around inside and outside the sink.

"No preservatives" - Sugar is a preservative. Salt is a preservative. Vinegar is a preservative. Lemon juice is a preservative.

"Sugar-free" - but they add alternative sweeteners that have a range of other health issues associated with them.

"Cholesterol-free" - I once saw this on a juice container and had a laugh.

What people don't realise is that with food formulation, what you take out, you have to put something back in to replace it. A low/no sugar product will likely be higher in something else like fat to make it a palatable product.. So labels make claims on some things, but will purposely not mention the others.

Edit: Yay! 100th comment!

What do you call a hen that counts her own eggs? A mathemachicken.

"It's a terrible day for rain."

Absolutely no digging in to the tub of butter, and no other food bits (usually bread crumbs) must be left inside.

If dug in to, it must be smoothed out before putting back in to the fridge. As for the crumbs, take them out and put them back on to the bread they came from. Now the butter can be put back in to the fridge.

Canadian living in Australia. Omnivore.

Kicker: Food technologist and health inspector. AMA.

Tl;dr: Doesn't matter if it's meat or veg. It goes in the fridge. Follow 2h/4h rule. Edit: Should specify certain veg are potentially hazardous as soon as you cut in to them, like leafy greens. All cooked or partially veg that should be treated like meat.

For work, I'm fairly strict in businesses because the food can go anywhere once it's in the hands on the customer, even in restaurants or at home. You can look at your dine in customers and they all look healthy, but what if they're not, or where do the leftovers go? Do they take it home after date night to share some with little Bobby or Grandma Jane? In business, you do what you can to keep the food as "clean" as you can.

At home and in food businesses, handwashing is ALWAYS a problem. Food handlers are always touching their faces, phones, hip towel they've had on all day, touching a towel they use used to wipe their hands after only rinsing hands in water in the sink, and then touching lettuce for a salad. So even at home, you can cook things to keep bacteria, but is the scoop, container, and your hands clean? Dust, pollen, flies, hairs, etc also carry microbes, and if any of them fall in to food after its been cooked, the bacteria can grow.

It also depends on the type of bacteria, too. Salmonella can infect at an extremely low dose, and Staphylococcus infects at very high doses.

I follow the 2h/4h rule for anything potentially hazardous. Of course, at home, I'm a bit more flexible, usually +/- 1h. If I make myself sick, alright, but there's no way I'm going to make anyone else sick, so if I'm making food for others, I keep to the strict rules. I'm also generally more risk adverse because the thought of anything involuntary coming out either end makes me sick just thinking about it.

I think the amount of time a food stays out is cultural, and if you grew up with it, your gut will have gotten used to the levels of bacteria. Us westerners generally get sick drinking tap water in certain countries when the locals are fine. I used to live with a Japanese lady for a year, and she knew what I did for a living. She always left rice out all night and ate it the next day. One day, she came to me with it and said "does this smell weird?" and it was a definite yes from me. I'd never leave cooked rice out that long and feel comfortable eating it.

So yeah, Bacillus cereus or whatever bacteria present may not occur all the time, but it does happen. Imagine making large batches and serving to large numbers of unrelated people.

Another thing: Cool foods within 2h to a reasonable temperature (I say 40C is fine) before putting it in the the fridge uncovered. If you put hot food in the fridge, you run the risk of warming up the foods already in the fridge.

Wash your hands.

And use a thermometer. Make sure it's clean before you use it.

Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk.

The first thing that comes to mind is being able to talk to people without being awkward or making things awkward.

But something I'd like more is to be able to think on my feet. I'm one of those people who needs time to process things before formulating a proper response.

Environmental health officer, aka health inspector.

Most people don't know who we are, but we play a huge role in the background on education and prevention for public health issues like food safety, communicable diseases (gastro, outbreaks, pandemic, tattooing, beauty parlours, mosquitoes, rodents, flu, covid, etc.), health of the environment (soil, air, water),... We are a jack of all trades kind of profession.

I've been in the factories and supermarkets as a worker and an inspector. It's very rare (I don't say impossible, because there's always a chance) to find hair, sand, and other foreign objects in meat processed in registered factories - the cleanliness is pretty high up there because the fines are also high up there.

But if you're getting meat from an unregistered butcher/retailer, you're on your own. You can also see/inspect the meat in the display case before you buy.