Using hands on deli counter

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 ..

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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 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!

Human faeces was found in food in Indian restaurant yuk.

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.

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.

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!

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! ?

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.

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.

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

CedarC
Ada's ? that's a new one? Do they deliver

I think we can be too fussy about hygiene but how far so we take it, especially with the current furore? There's been nothing else on BBC News today.

They say the healthiest children in school are those that live on a farm!

blueskies
Waitrose Banbury cafe is just as bad!

Do you eat in a restaurant, cafe, pub or hotel? and do you see how much your food is handled before it hits your table No you don’t
I think washed hands are cleaner than gloves

CedarC now that is something that I would be bothered about. I would have reported him to the manager.

I had the same experience yesterday when I bought soome Tuna in Morrisons. However, hen Jamie Oliver went into a school in the USA he told all the staff NOT to use gloves as they can transfer bacteria and are very unhygenic unless you change them each time you handle a different food. Apparently he said that hand washing is better.

Marks and Spencer have open shelves of unwrapped bread and cakes at waist height in their Hedge End store. Watching customers brush past them I wondered if it were a Health and Safety issue. They do seem to have a problem with hygiene. In the cafe we couldn't find a vacant table that wasn't piled with dirty plates etc. We cleared our mucky table and wiped it down with hand gel and tissues before we could drink our coffee. The solitary staff member was rushed off his feet.

Not a nice subject,but we were in Ada's one day and my DH was in the Gents. When he came out he was absolutely astonished,one of the men from the deli counter came out of a cubicle ,did not wash his hands and went straight back behind the counter (we watched). Have never bought anything from that counter since.