sani-who?

i have a midterm on tuesday for my sanitation class. i know the professor is hard, i know i need to study, but i'm having trouble. it's hard to know if it's my old (terrible) study habits, or if it's the fact that sanitation - and what we learn in sanitation is in many ways diametrically opposed to what goes on in a high-end kitchen. clearly, the fundamentals are present in all even marginally responsible kitchens - at least in theory - shit does not belong in food. (wash your hands) but that's just the beginning. there are so many ways we can get people sick - some of them are totally beyond our control. as i ate my half dozen kumamotos last night, i couldn't *help* but wonder about that waters they lurked in...how clean was that water? was there perhaps a tinge of listeria? i swallowed, smiled and drank more champagne, trying not to spoil what should have been a pure pleasure.
i think my real unease comes down to the fact that it's pretty impossible to keep people safe from the actions of other people - theory doesn't really further any of those aims. london has pretty impressive security - so does spain for that matter. fat lot of good it did all those dead people. and here i am, recklessly continuing to use a sponge - i might as well smear chicken blood on that carrot i've carelessly set on the counter. i really just can't live that way. my grandmother used to sit in her apartment drinking sanka and handing out advice like busfare - "don't walk barefoot, you could step on a needle and it could pierce your heart." or. "don't lock the door, what if you should collapse and no one can reach you in time?" i can't live like that. are we really supposed to look at our scallions and parsley with mistrust? are they planning some kind of coup de cuisine? am i seriously taking my life in my hands with the words, medium rare burger? like countless other things in life - on tuesday from 9-10:30, it doesn't matter what i think, it doesn't even matter what i intend to do, or how or why i justify it; suffed things need to reach 165 for at least 15 seconds.