I like to use gloves when handling poultry. Scraps are thrown in a produce bag and tied when I'm done. Unless it's a small amount like cutting some fat off, then I just grab it in my hand and pull off the glove inside out a d that becomes the bag. Knives and cutting board all go straight to the sink. They're given an initial wash, then the cutting board goes in the DW and the knives go back on the dirty side. Sponge gets microwaved for a minute, sink gets sanitized, then the knives get re-washed. Repeat microwave and sanitizing, and now the kitchen is good to go. Seems a bit excessive, but I can honestly say I stick to that routine whenever I handle chicken.

Perhaps you can glean some helpful information from the USDA fact sheet linked below, or other USDA links.

We all consume dangerous microorganisms all the time. It becomes dangerous when under certain conditions it develops into a toxin that the problem starts. Those baked potatoes wrapped in foil are a good example where bacteria on the potato skin + unsafe temperature, the right pH and moisture level, for the right amount of time can = a foodborne illness.

In the right environment, bacteria can grow at an alarming rate. Populations of microorganisms can double in as little as nine minutes - but it has to have all the right conditions to do so.

Thoroughly wash food, especially food that was in contact with the ground, before cutting or eating. People often neglect washing cantaloupe / honeydew / watermelon and the knife can transfer bacteria from the surface to the inside flesh.

Harold McGee explains a lot in his book, "On Food and Cooking - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen". The skin on animals prevents bacteria from penetrating into live muscles, but we have to contend with skin on poultry each time we prepare it. From the book: "For example, a typical piece of pork in the supermarket will have a few hundred bacteria per square centimeter, while a piece of chicken may have 10,000 in the same area. This simple statistic is the reason for cleaning hands, knives, and cutting boards thoroughly with hot, soapy water after handling chicken and before handling other foods, and for cooking poultry well, especially its surfaces."

I had a friend, while handling raw eggs during cooking, rubbed his eye and contracted salmonella. He didn't even need to eat under-cooked or raw eggs for that.

When I teach home canning classes I remind people to avoid hand-to-mouth contact (smoking, eating) while preparing food because that's a good way to spread bacteria from your mouth.

Hot soapy water is also a good place to start. Keep a solution of 50/50 vinegar and water, or 1-qt. water + 1 t. bleach in a spritz bottle to use for sanitizing. Just fill a spray bottle and wipe down your kitchen surfaces with 3% hydrogen peroxide (the strength you can purchase at the drugstore) to kill germs.

I use two towels in the kitchen - red ones are for drying hands after they've been washed, and blue ones for drying dishes. If I need to clear-up a mess, I use small white bar towels that can be easily disinfected, and keep a stack of them handy in the kitchen.

You can also look at USDA information about disinfection - such as "Disinfection 101" http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/BRM/resources/Disinfectants/Disinfection101.pdf That's another whole area of study.....

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA - Safe Food Handling

Can humans develop resistance to the common food-borne bacteria? Suppose, for instance, you work in a poultry processing facility and are exposed to salmonella all day?

I'm not sure about developing a resistance John, but I know when I worked in one, there were huge bowls of disinfectants all over the place and we were always dipping our hands and utensils in them.

The plant was refrigerated to keep the birds fresh and bacteria down. We wore layers of clothes and of course the white pants and lab coats, and the mesh safety glove as we were slicing.

Once you get a good system down and really visualize everything going on from the grocery/butcher to your kitchen and keeping backpacks and nasty purses off your counters and the crap germs that come from such uglies...i found good shrink sealed organic whole chickens and the same for thighs. As near frozen as possible depending on what recipes i've planned. Right from the car, double bagged and not in with other produce, (don't you hate when a leaky meat package is oozing all over the grocery counters and then the checkout rubber belt wet with meat juice?) gack.
I go straight from the car to the freezer or upstairs to the sink for immediate prep. (i leave it there while putting everything away).Clean sink, cutting board fits in sink and prep chicken contained. I don't de-bone ever. I roast, smoke, rotisserie whole, 2-4 at a time or a thigh favorite dish. All prep is in the sink for chicken. Easy clean-up. If not quite ready for prep, all stays downstairs in the extra fridge in a tray. Nothing more horrible than leaking meat juice on fridge shelves. If i have lots of veggies and fruit, that gets first dibs before any meat prep.
Organic or not, all fruits, lemons limes and greens get a wash before putting away. Like you, i never use oven heat or even a grill without cooking other meats for meals for the rest of the week. Chicken salad, tacos, homemade stock or freezing leftovers. It seems to be only once a month i do a major meat prep so i keep it clean and wash up with a bit of bleach and my usual vinegar/alcohol mix. I wipe down everything and it is a nice once a month real good hose-down. No raw chicken for another month. System works for me. Many easy meals ready for a quick thaw and re-heat. Soups and left-overs. Tonight was smoked ribs pulled from the freezer over roasted potatoes, fresh steamed collards with garlic chips and a fresh element of a cucumber/yofurt greek tzatziki salad.
I do not use gloves as it is just too messy and in the long run not so sanitary. Keep everything in the sink, wash and toss in the dishwasher for extra sanitizing. I even wipe down handles to fridge and stove, garbage pullouts, light switches, door knobs, stove knobs while i am doing that once a month quick clean-up after a meat prep.
Love the hand/nail brushes than surgeons use from LeeValley. They come in a 12 pack and i have them at every sink. Dishwasher fine and last forever. (disposable for surgeons)

I have been to many parts of the world where sanitary care = 0. I have been lucky so far.

At home I have two systems. For myself, just very simple routines of cleaning, basically two cutting boards and two kitchen towels. I don't sanitize anything.

When I have friends, I go thru a very rigorous sanitizing program, including using high power germicidal UV light to make sure there will be no spots missed.

dcarch

After doing a lot of poultry processing, here's what I do:

Knives are washed with hot water and antibacterial detergent like Dawn, then rinsed well.

Cutting boards are rinsed with hot water (with Dawn if needed to remove any food) and placed in dishwasher, cutting surface towards the inside of the DW, to be processed later.

Chickeny counter surfaces get this treatment: A squirt of Simple Green to get all the grease off; wipe with paper towels. A squirt of 409 or other surface cleaner to get any Simple Green residue; wipe with paper towels. Then splash about a tablespoon of vodka or rubbing alcohol on the counter surface and wipe off with a paper towel.

I do the inside out disposable gloves thing with chicken too, use paper toweling instead of my kitchen sponge when cleaning up. I try to keep any possible contaminating requiring cleaning up to a minimum by getting out everything I need before hand, no opening/reaching into the fridge, or drawer for a different knife or measuring piece after I've started handling the chicken. Sanitize my sink after with Soft Scrub w/bleach, utensils and cutting board into the dishwasher.

Have to say though, I watched a vintage clip on PBS once that was Julia Child preparing a spit roasted chicken, and according to todays precautions she would have sickened all of us. She had that bird all over the work surfaces, wiping here and there with a kitchen towel, knives, roll of string for trussing, seasonings being partially used and handled, no hand washing only wiping. I always loved watching her cook, it was a sharp contrast to how careful we feel we have to be now....

Funny, (or not for sanitary reasons), even my husband will comment while watching a cooking show about certain food prepping. "she just prepped raw chicken, then, while talking about safely handling raw a raw product, she touched and grabbed a kitchen towel, various tools, then the sink handle, the top of the soap dispenser, quick wash, then back to the towel to dry her hands!"
(good boy, lol)
...and this is from a guy that used to grab the sink sponge and wipe up a spill off the floor and toss it back in. We no longer use that type of sponge.

I also find that awful. They ALL seem to do it. I can understand in the interest of time they don't want to be scrubbing their hands and counters half the show, but when they actually eat the food or worse serve it to the studio audience that just grosses me out. I suppose people aren't getting sick from it though, so maybe we're overly sensitive.