Russian roulette

Similar experience Lancslass! We went to a country pub that did a Sunday roast carvery, where you helped yourself to the vegetables but the chef sliced the joint of meat of your choice. Whilst in the queue, we watched as he sliced a joint of roast beef to put on someone's plate and then picked off the scraggly bits with his fingers and ate them! We watched him do it twice more and decided against eating there and left. not envy

I remember seeing a little girl cough all over the unwrapped fresh bread at M&S. It certainly put me off buying it.

When on a cruise ship they had these little nut dispensers that allowed a few nuts to come out, but it was not possible to touch them with your hands. I'm surprised we don't see them in bars everywhere.

Years ago I watched a girl at a deli. She was serving bacon and licked her fingers to separate the rashers!

I think girls are probably fairly germ free after using a public loo unless they've been for more than a wee. This is because, in my experience, they never use paper (evidence: drips on the seat) and they don't flush (evidence: yellow water) so haven't touched the handle!

I tend not to think too much about these things. Do people really go to parties and hotels and never partake of the buffet? Though I suppose it’s one way to stay slim....

I did once feel a bit when I ate a handful of those lovely fennel seed sweets as we left a curry place, before DH pointed out that the big spoon I picked them up with was coated in the sweets. Someone had obviously had it in their mouth.

I would have have ate some, I seem to have a cast iron stomach as far as germs are concerned. Probably because of all my years in Asia eating street food.

John Lewis revamped their Reading cafe a couple of years ago. Now instead of having the cakes, scones etc, all behind glass, and served by a staff member, most are displayed on a central table, open to all. We don't go there nearly as often now, but when I do go for my free coffee and cake, I choose one from the chilled display.

I hate buffets where you know food has been sitting uncovered for a couple of hours before anyone eats, uncovered as well. Imagine the possible flies, wasps, general dust, etc, all non refrigerated on a hot day. Yuk, do not go there.

But isn’t it all this avoidance that makes you more susceptible to bugs I would never consider not eating a snack just because others hands had been in the bowl
Even if you wash you’re hands after the toilet the person before you may not have done and then you touch the same door handle These bugs are travelling all round all the time however careful you are so you just need to get used to them
No one has any idea what goes on in hotel/restaurants/ cafe/ takeaway kitchens even those with lots of stars
Just enjoy and don’t overthink about bugs it can all get out of kilter unless you have a very low immune system our bodies are made to deal with daily germs

Wrapped sweets are the way to go !

Most of us have fabulously efficient immune systems which don't really need extra help.

Having said that, I always hand sanitize going into hospitals for visits, and on exiting.

I also believe (and this is unsubstantiated) that as we age we add to our inner parasites, bad bacteria, funguses, etc. And that maybe this overwhelms the immune system and then it will need extra help.

The key is nutrition to keep the system strong and healthy and then to focus on why it lets us down when it does - ie what is going on which weakens the immune system.

Each Christmas I had a painful bout of upset stomach which no-one else seemed to have - one Christmas Eve I even wondered if I'd manage the cooking next day. Then it clicked that each time I had been eating the salads that were in an open display in the supermarket. I'm a country girl and consider myself pretty immune but that definitely hurt, no more for me!

In Vietnam earlier this year we had a meal in a restaurant and I went to use the facilities. I was waiting ages when the door opened and a member of staff came out and bowed to me and indicated I should go in. The loo was filthy, but as this was our second week I had got used to that, but then I realised she had been washing plates and cutlery in the sink and stacking the 'clean' wet plates on the loo floor and the cutlery on top of the loo cistern. When we walked out of the restaurant we went past the kitchen and noted that there were about 12 people working in a tiny space with no sink and open bins! As the meal had already been consumed we had to blank it from our minds. We survived and were not ill.

A woman after my own heart. I wouldn’t have helped myself to the food either. It may seem ott but I won’t buy homemade cakes either. AND don’t start me on supermarkets which obviously think it’s ok to have unwrapped bakery products on display. What is it supposed to signify, that the bread is fresh? I really don’t know. All it signifies to me is the germs from supermarket trolley handles on customer’s hands and cuffs being transferred onto the unwrapped food.