Does anyone still wash their hands before meals?? I don't mean you folk reading this, I mean anyone, anywhere??

I never hear anyone say to children "wash your hands before your meal". No friends of mine say "I'll just go and wash my hands before we eat". Most fast food outlets have nowhere to wash your hands before you tuck into your finger-food. Some rather feebly provide a damp hand wipe in a sachet with your food but most don't bother.

It used to be universal. What's happened?

Plus there was this horrible report on the BBC only yesterday:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19834975

I do, and always expect others to as well. I think I might be a bit OCD about it, when I used to travel a lot for work I was always aware of things like holding the hand rail at stations, and then going to have a coffee and a danish! Yuk, just think of all those germs, I think the flu scare last winter made it even more important.

I am also fanatical about washing before preparing food, if I asbently mindedly stroke one of the mogs while cokking, I wash my hands again before stirring, peeling etc.

Oh god, I didn't mean cokking! I meant cooking!

A Freudian slip phoenix?

I'm also a fanatical hand-washer.

My son-in-law is totally obsessive about hygiene and the children are constantly asked to wash their hands, before, after, during and in-between- but especially before meals.

I used to have a problem with my dad NOT washing his hands - even after going to the WC. It used to drive me mad - and sometimes put strain in our relationship. But to be fair, he was born in 1912 and when he was a kid there was one WC on the half floor to be shared by 4 families, and no washing basin anywhere but the kitchen sink. From the sublime to the flipping ridiculous, as is so often the case these days.

Washing hands before you eat and before you prepare food, yes. Have you noticed how many women walk straight out of the cubicle in the loo. Some stop to arrange their hair..... No wonder the credit cards are covered in

Wouldn't allow me to post asterisks!

Compared with me, Lady Macbeth is a total wimp. I was horrified to learn that people in the UK wash their hands on average four times day. How often do they pee (or more), prepare food, eat, change nappies, etc.? Of course all children should be taught to wash their hands before sitting up at the table. It isn't rocket surgery!

Hand washing does decrease the number of colds you get.
If you have been dealing with a tummy upset or handling raw meat - yes you need a blooming good hand wash.
I was reading something else today about an expert in household germs who said microbiologists are either really paranoid (as in the BBC article) or not at all - on the basis that there are billions of bacteria around us all the time, only a tiny minority are harmful and we have been living alongside them for an awful long time.

I don't always wash my hands before I sit down to a meal (unless I have been to the loo) but I always wash my hands before preparing food and after preparing meat, especially chicken (OMG! I typed children and had to delete it!!) which I am paranoid about and go into disinfecting overdrive. My grandson, 6, has been brainwashed to wash his hands before every meal - I don't know how long that will last but make hay while the sun shines!

I'm an obsessive hand washer. In fact I'm so sad I also carry hand gel in my handbag or pocket in case I can't find anywhere to wash my hands.

Our children have to wash their hands when they're here but they don't have to when they're at their mother's so it's never become a habit with them.

My hands look about 10 years older than the rest of me - thanks to obsessive hand washing! If I'm preparing food for anyone other than myself and DH, I have to remove nail varnish, if I'm wearing it and then scrub up. I couldn't possibly touch meat, fish or poultry without first washing my hands. When I get home, I wash my hands. Arriving in a restaurant, I go straight to the washroom and then use tissue in my hand to open the door. I also have hand gel in my bag at all times. I've noticed that not one of my 7 grandchildren is told to wash their hands before meals..except by me of course. Fussy Granny!

Wow! You are an amazingly UNtypical UK sample. To quote from the BBC article:

"The British are particularly bad (at washing our hands) .... Many of us also lie and claim we have washed our hands when we haven't, especially after going to the toilet.

In a recent UK-wide study, 99% of people interviewed at motorway service stations toilets claimed they had washed their hands after going to the toilet. Electronic recording devices revealed only 32% of men and 64% of women actually did."

I sloosh my hands under tap (apparently almost entirely no use!) after peeing. After a poo, I always wash my hands with soap and water and a careful hand-dry. I read an NHS poster a while back about how to wash your hands so now I do interlace my fingers, rub my hands back to back, wash round the base of my thumbs etc etc. But I do do a shortened version, 30 seconds max. I wash my hands before preparing food. So maybe two slooshes and two/three proper washes a day.

Plus after gardening or DIY. An extra once, maybe twice a week.

Otherwise - never!

What do all you über-Lady-Macbeth self-confessed frequent hand washers make of the rest of the UK population, perhaps correctly called the Great Unwashed?? I'm surprised you ever leave the house! Or get out of the car. Public transport I guess is eeeeeuch! Oh dear.

Hmm! I shower in the morning before dressing, hand wash after visits to the loo, before food prep (unless it is just sticking a pre-prepared in the microwave)and after handling raw meat/fish. Know how to soap wash & dry hands carefully in 30 secs..due to being teacher in classes when the nurse comes in to demonstrate to the 5 yr olds.
But I do not automatically wash hands if having a meal out, even if I have travelled by public transport. Took a small bottle of hand gel on holiday but never used it..perhaps I should as I have come back with rotten cough!

I'm not obsessive either, but I do carry hand wipes now, and sometimes remember to use them.

My little 4 year old grandson puts his grandad to shame, he REFUSES to leave the bathroom after going to the toilet, unless he`s washed his hands, doesn`t have to be told.

Also meant to say that a key part of what all nurseries, childminders and reception classes must teach is good hygiene habits (&the reasons for them) of hand washing after using the toilet and also before food. Doesn't come with a guarantee though!

I always wash my hands before eating, preparing food and after having come back into the house from using public transport etc! When you think of the coughs and sneezes that splatter over handrails on buses or the hands that touch door handles in shops....! I carry hand sanitiser in my bag and use it before eating in cafes. I'm surprised at the number of people I see just sitting down to their food without cleaning their hands at all.

Oh dear Marelli that's me!! perhaps I will just start wearing gloves! Do you think
a) we are more susceptible to germs/bacteria

b) germs/bacteria are more aggressive & less resistant

c) we are more or less health aware than our parents' generation

I do not remember copious hand washing as a child..were people generally healthier or not? I genuinely do not know so if anyone ( any public health professionals out there??) does have some answers i'd love to know.

When we were little it was always wash your hands before you eat. Now it's wash your hands after going to the loo. I prefer the former since it covers all eventualities between the loo and eating - which may be some time.

Agree with Marelli here.
Wash hands all the time.
Even after I have opened the mail.
I don't know whether the postman has just been poking his nose before he stuffed my post in my letter box?
YUK.

I know him and would not put it past him.

And people that own pets should wash their hands ALL the time.

Euuuuww - I shall be watching our postman carefully from now on! I remember my nan telling me I should always wash my hands before touching food, especially if I'd just handled money as those pennies may have come from a dirty old man who hadn't washed his hands after he'd been to the loo. I thought if I ate chips from the market in my fingers I would D I E!

When on holiday in India earlier in the year, I was impressed by the provision of proper hand washing facilities in even the humblest eatery, and the way that diners would use them enthusiastically before eating - men rolling up their shirt sleeves and washing thoroughly with great gusto. This was a habit that I emulated whilst there and I think contributed to my maintenance of good health whilst on holiday. At home, I have always washed my hands before eating in my own house, but I now make a point of washing properly before eating in a restaurant or cafe. I also use a foam hand cleanser which is both anti bacterial and anti viral.

I do appreciate the need for basic hygiene but I do worry that if we over do it bacteria becomes more resistant and stronger!

what happened to 'eat a peck of dirt before you die' or have i misinterpreted that all my life!

I think you're right nanaej in that some advertisements seem to imply that the average house should not just be cleaned, but disinfected! The young mum disinfecting the high chair particularly cracks me up when I remember how the kids used often to share their goodies with the dogs, on a lick for lick basis! Children do need a certain amount of exposure to develop their immune systems but as for myself, I'm a little more cautious now about personal hygiene in that knowledge that your immune system doesn't work as well as you get older.