How safe is food served at church potlucks?

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I'm glad this was brought up.  As a chef, I jump through all the hoops the Health Dept. asks me to.  While I feel some are a bit excessive (mostly when it comes to build out, less so for daily procedures), I feel that they're pretty much just good practice.  It always irritates me that the public at large tends to associate food poisoning with restaurants.  if they come down with something, it's always, "Could it be the curry I had the other night at ..."  Perish the thought that they could have gotten it by eating leftovers from a picnic that sat out 6 hours, got put away in the overcrowded fridge, on the same shelf that had thawing chicken the day before, then got snacked on the next day.

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Yes, so very true! Blame the restaurant because they have insurance. I've seen some nightmarish home food setups, and at one point had to be sure when a certain person brought food to a potluck of any sort, because they never, EVER washed their hands after diapering their children.

Randomly: High moisture, low acid foods are the culprit. Miss Lulu's Potato Salad makes people sick because of the potatoes, not the mayo.

If schools and churches are getting nailed and inspected regularly by the health departments, why in the world isn't someone cracking down on the legions of people running catering businesses out of unapproved home kitchens?

I also think the NYState glove law is completely silly.