Can I get botulism from this?

Full disclosure, I have OCD and one of my main phobias is botulism. Apologies if the following post sounds completely insane. I'm just terrified I've managed to get botulism all over my kitchen.


I'm currently dealing with chronic fatigue, and it has meant some small jobs get forgotten about or left for a day or two. I made some mashed potato the other day, and put the dirty scoop into the sink with other pre-rinsed dishes to wash later. As I was exhausted, I told myself I'd wash it in the morning, but I was sick the entire day. I didn't think there was any water in the basin so assumed it would just be dried out mash on the scoop, but it seemed with people going in and out to get a glass of water during the day and next morning, the basin ended up with quite a bit of water in it.

I finally had enough energy to starting washing up this morning, and when I lifted a dish, I noticed the scoop was entirely submerged in water and immediately my mind went to botulism. It grows in low oxygen, alkaline environments, and potato is notorious for having the spore. I'm worried that the potato on the scoop was submerged in water for more than 48 hours. We have hard water too, which is very alkaline.

I washed up as normal, trying not to let it get to me, but it's running around in my mind.

Unless you licked the scoop with the old mash on it, you’re fine. And even if you did lick it, more than likely you’d just have a bit of an upset stomach if that. Botulism is foodborne, not airborne. So you can’t possibly have it all over your kitchen.

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Originally Posted by WorryRaptor

I'm currently dealing with chronic fatigue, and it has meant some small jobs get forgotten about or left for a day or two. I made some mashed potato the other day, and put the dirty scoop into the sink with other pre-rinsed dishes to wash later. As I was exhausted, I told myself I'd wash it in the morning, but I was sick the entire day. I didn't think there was any water in the basin so assumed it would just be dried out mash on the scoop, but it seemed with people going in and out to get a glass of water during the day and next morning, the basin ended up with quite a bit of water in it.

I finally had enough energy to starting washing up this morning

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Have I got this right? There are people in your house who are able to get themselves a drink of water but they've not washed those dishes for you? :huh:

Park the botulism for a minute cocker. What's going on with your fam not helping you out with washing the dishes!? :shrug:

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Originally Posted by glassgirlw

Unless you licked the scoop with the old mash on it, you’re fine. And even if you did lick it, more than likely you’d just have a bit of an upset stomach if that. Botulism is foodborne, not airborne. So you can’t possibly have it all over your kitchen.

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I'm just worried that if it did harbour any toxin growth, it can land on a lot of surfaces if I'm splashing water around etc. I did food safety as part of a previous job years ago, and it stuck in my mind since then, and it terrifies me. Any protocol for suspicious looking packaging or food was to throw away immediately without opening/rinsing etc as you definitely don't want to chance getting any other surface contaminated. It's foodborne in the sense that you need to ingest it to become ill from it/or get it in a wound, and as I washed all other utensils with it and I was concerned I potentially contaminated a lot of surfaces we will be eating from.

I've since used some of the utensils, so now is the waiting game.

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Originally Posted by NoraB

Have I got this right? There are people in your house who are able to get themselves a drink of water but they've not washed those dishes for you? :huh:

Park the botulism for a minute cocker. What's going on with your fam not helping you out with washing the dishes!? :shrug:

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There is a lot of stress in the household at the moment with work, and I insisted I would do them. On me really!

They do a lot of other stuff around the house :)