I cut raw peppers on the same board that I cut raw bacon on. I will be roasting these at 585F (305°C). Should I be concerned about contamination?
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4585F? You should be worried about them catching fire.– FuzzyChefCommented Sep 5, 2017 at 22:28
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2 Answers
What do you mean by "raw" bacon?
In a lot of with world bacon is only available cured and smoked -- in which case see this question (If you are unsure see that question also. There is some debate about this.).
The bacon itself is probably safe to eat without further cooking, and the peppers certainly.
On the other hand some people in some places (the British(?)) have this thing for unsmoked bacon which is basically just raw meat. In which case you have contaminated the peppers. But it doesn't matter because you are cooking them anyway. And any contaminants are probably not going to have time to multiply, and produce non-heat destructed toxins between last night and when you cook them. (If not you probably have other problems, like the bacon already being spoiled)
answered Sep 5, 2017 at 9:47
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6American grocery store bacon is basically raw. It has been brined with liquid smoke flavor. I wouldn't eat raw vegetables that had been chopped on it, just because it's difficult to clean so much surface area properly, especially the cut surfaces. Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 15:47
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1While I appreciate that in some places "bacon" is something you can eat without cooking, as Joshua has pointed out, there are a lot of places where that definitely isn't true. So given that this is a global site, it's probably best to avoid making statements like "The bacon itself is probably safe to eat without further cooking." I know you sort of explained/qualified, but it's even better to avoid possibly misleading people. (Also the OP used Fahrenheit, so they're most likely from the US, and what you're saying wouldn't apply for them.)– Cascabel ♦Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 22:08
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@JoshuaEngel sure, that is why I linked to the question that fully discusses that. I'm not going to repeat an entire question in my post. Assuming it is cured+smoked then that question applies (from which the current accepted answer is safe to eat, but which certainly debate exists.) Commented Sep 5, 2017 at 23:11
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1I had not intended my incidental comment about raw vegetables to disagree with that aspect of the answer: cross-contamination isn't a concern if you're cooking. I was just clarifying that for an important segment of the audience (e.g. Americans), using tools that had touched uncooked bacon with vegetables would be considered cross-contamination. The vegetables are safe when cooked but not raw. Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 14:08
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1@JoshuaEngel - Thank you for clarifying. I clearly misunderstood. Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 14:31
It's not a big deal, it would still be safe to eat the vegetables raw, you'd just need to wash them thoroughly. You do not need to worry about contamination of the cooked food as cooking it will kill off any possible pathogens, even if you don't wash them first. It will be perfectly safe to eat. You do need to be aware that anything the uncooked vegetables came in contact with after they were cut might have a bit of bacon on it, in which case you just need to clean it.
