Using hands on deli counter

Unwrapped serve yourself pastries in Lidl no matter how appetising they look I avoid.

I would rather they use their hands as people wearing gloves just keep them on all the time at least if they get something in there hands they would wash them.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back to the standards of our young days?

Food in a delicatessen was moved with utensils and the cashier sat in a little cage in the middle of the butcher's shop and was the only person to handle the money.

Re healthy kids from a farm. Our boys would help dad with whatever mucky job they were doing and then just tuck into the sandwiches I’d taken out for them. As they’re all over six foot tall and in rude health, it seems to have done them no harm. Mind you, nowadays they’re all very very fussy - which makes me smile! ?

Do folk really believe their food is untouched by human hands and germ free?

As a teenager, I had a Saturday job in a shop. The lovely manager, Mr Smith, never ever washed his hands - even after the loo. He was disgusting. He opened the big tins of corned beef etc. at one end, punched a hole in the other end - and blew the meat out for the slicer!

Not keen when the celebrity chefs and wanna be chefs lean forward and breath all over the food.

I’ve generally seen staff use a piece of greaseproof paper to pick the item up but perhaps I need to be more vigilant.

My shift manager at McDonalds back in the day never washed his hands. I also worked on a deli counter we had sheets of plastic to handle the food. But plastic is anathema now, I would rather help the planet to sustain the future than worry about a few germs, personally.

Human faeces was found in food in Indian restaurant yuk.

I hate it when I see people in shops handling food in any way except with tongs, specially sandwiches and bread. But I am particularly fussy about food hygiene. I don't like to think about whether the tongs are clean but somehow it seems better than their bare hands. If you watch people serving food, they touch their nose, scratch inside their ears and their heads, even pick at their lips and teeth sometimes. Last summer I saw a huge fly crawling all over the unwrapped bread and rolls on the bakery counter at Tesco. I would never buy uncovered bread or cakes now!

On all the cookery programmes, the food seems to be mauled about and arranged by hand to look attractive. Personally would rather it was spooned onto the plate and not touched so much.
Also no one seems to tie hair back, and as for rolling up sleeves or wearing an apron- yes Nigella and co, I’m looking at you.

I don't worry about uncooked meat as cooking will kill any bugs but I'd rather cooked meat was properly handled. I don't buy it often though and if it's from the deli it is often already bagged in the reduced for a quick sale so I hadn't really considered how it got there. I probably will wonder now!

I work in Morrisons. The hygiene standards and hand washing principles are very strict indeed. The counter staff work to very exacting instructions.

I'm with you Greengran. I think we are way too obsessed.

Desdemona. Are the deli staff at Morrison’s supposed to use tongs, or gloves ?

I m with you too greengran and lizbet some people are far too obsessed with germs and fear I m sure all this obsession with cleaning and chemical laden gels and stuff makes us more prone to a weaker immune system

I understand the need for supermarkets to cut out the use of the blue plastic gloves.... but surely tongs that are then immersed in Milton /water mix. That’s the way to do it.

Under normal circumstances accepting a few germs would help us build up a resistance ,"a little squalor may be good for the health. Common household germs and dust, it seems, play a vital role in the development of immune systems."

I was a primary school teacher for many years teaching snotty nosed , adorable, kids who mostly forgot to wash their hands after going to the loo . I have never been ill ... yet

This lates virus scares me I must admit ..

A few years ago, when gloves were de rigueur, I stood in a queue at Morrison's and watched a young lady serve several people ahead of me at the fresh sausage and bacon counter without gloves. When it came to my turn, I gently pointed out that she should be wearing gloves. Without a word, she went to the box of disposable plastic gloves, put one on....and then proceeded to pick up my sausages with the OTHER hand! And then couldn't understand my mirth.

Back in the 50's when we were young, we all shared the same large bottle of Corona/Tizer. We all sipped from it and passed it on. Nothing bad happened to us. There is too much sanitation these days and that is why people suffer from certain problems, There is no immunity gained from sharing things, these days. I have no qualms about the way my butcher uses his hands to prepare my joint. At home I wash my hands and then prepare my food. Not had a problem with anything nasty over the last 50 years. We are becoming a nation of wimps. Basic hygiene is necessary but if we go over the top we will lose our chance of getting natural immunity. Rant over.

The gloves are not sterile so will have all sorts of bacteria on them. After years of increasing sterility and germ obsession we are now having to learn about restoring our gut biome and the resulting improvements in health. Normal hand washing is fine.

The cooked meats, pies, fish, uncooked meat is left in a chiller counter unwrapped free to the air and any germs within that air!
If someone coughs or sneezes within a three meter radius then droplets will land, similarly in summer flies and other bugs will land........
What I’d the assistant touched a strong flavoured meat then without washing their hands touched a delicate flavour meat......
If anyone is worried either ask staff to wash their hands before touching your product or buy pre packed! What you don’t see you won’t know about with pre pack.

I can’t believe my local Sainsbury’s with croissants, rolls, pain o chocolat all in open baskets !! Anyone can be breathing on them ! Wouldn’t touch it if you paid me! Late 2018 i was in a costa and a woman serving picked up my pain- o -raisin and put it on my plate and I remember thinking she didn’t look too clean. I told my mum I’ll leave it and she said don’t be daft she’ll have clean hands. Bang an hour later I had stomach issues which turned out to be some awful intestinal bacteria which took 3 1/2 months to get rid of !! Never will anyone friend or foe touch my food again. Rather be considered a pain in the rear ( and I am) then risk tummy upset .

when I worked in Asda about 20 years ago we were told that tests had shown that people who wore gloves actually hadmore germs on their hands because the ones with bare hands washed all the time.

Our local Co-op in Essex has breads and pastries out, displayed in baskets, all open, tiered, at head and waist height. It is on the end of an aisle where people queue for the till, breathing all over them, maybe spraying saliva when they talk, sneezing (even yards away) droplets would land on them. They can also be picked up and handled without anyone purchasing them. Yuck, I never buy them thinking what could be on them. Surely at least they should have perspex covers over them?

Everyone is saying use tongs. How often are they washed between meats I wonder? I completely agree about hygiene being important, but by the same token I think 40 years ago we all built up a resistance to germs because we weren't as clean conscience as we are today? Mind you, with Corona Virus now, perhaps I'll need to rethink?