Should masks be worn by all food handlers in the future?

Including chefs and restaurant staff, especially when shouting orders in the kitchen----think of Gordon Ramsey spouting, in more ways than one.
Yes, where there's food.

Yes, what a good idea.

Food handlers are supposed to have their hair tied back and yes should wear masks too. I also want to see people who handle food NOT then handle the money. This often happens in baker's shops or fast food outlets. At the start of the pandemic I noticed staff at the local baker shop were wearing gloves which were black with dirt! What is the point of wearing dirty gloves? The person handling the food should not be taking your money.

It makes you wonder how the human race has ever survived our immune systems should work

Biscuitmuncher

It makes you wonder how the human race has ever survived our immune systems should work

We are in the middle of a pandemic. Our immune systems are not able to handle the virus without the vaccine, and even then it's not guaranteed.

Seems sensible to me. I have to say I find constant moaning about having to wear a mask very irritating, and quite often it comes from those who might well talk about Blitz spirit etc!
If there is a chance it helps spread germs why not just get in with it.

On our sushi counter in Waitrose they wear little cup type masks on their chin when preparing the food. I assume these catch any particles without having to wear a full blown face mask which might be uncomfortable all day.

Here

Chestnut were not in a pandemic anymore. And if masks worked the virus would have never left China

Lucca

Seems sensible to me. I have to say I find constant moaning about having to wear a mask very irritating, and quite often it comes from those who might well talk about Blitz spirit etc!
If there is a chance it helps spread germs why not just get in with it.

I agree with this Lucca. I find it extremely irritating too. I wear a mask, I have asthma, it doesn’t make any difference to my breathing. I don’t understand why some asthmatics say it does. I definitely think food handlers should wear a mask, even after mask wearing is no longer obligatory. It’s basic hygiene.

Biscuitmuncher

*Chestnut * were not in a pandemic anymore. And if masks worked the virus would have never left China

I think some people feel that, virus apart, food handlers should wear a face mask from a hygiene perspective. When we speak, cough, sneeze, droplets are spread and in the case of a food handler those droplets go onto the sandwich or whatever they are handling.

They do here and have done since the start of the pandemic. I can’t see why they wouldn’t. Most shopkeepers do and people working in supermarkets. I would have thought it was obvious.

Yes it should be regulation with anyone handling food. Some years ago I went on a catering course. The health and safety was very poor the budding potential chefs were wearing lots of jewellery. False nails and eyelashes chipped nail varnish. I found it disgusting complained about it but give up the course in the end.
I went to a large Sainsbury's I was planning on buying a large pizza for a get together. The server on the counter had a massive cold sore on her lips and was rubbing it with her hands. This is pre covid I decided not to get a pizza and walked way.

Biscuitmuncher

*Chestnut * were not in a pandemic anymore. And if masks worked the virus would have never left China

Any scientists on here ? Pretty sure neither of those statements is true.

Last time I looked the world was still in the midst of a pandemic. People are still getting sick and dying, the disease is still spreading. I wish it wasn’t true.

I hate watching the various Bake Off type programmes, celebrity or not, where the contestants have their hair loose. Professional chefs are expected to have their hair covered, or at the very least, tied up, so why are these people allowed to cook with their hair dangling over the pans?

I agree jaylucy about hair hanging all over the place when cooking or baking.

Also don’t like to see gelled nails when making pastry, a la Mary Berry.

I believe so. My mother used to complain about shop people blowing into and spitting on paper bags; this is no longer done, and I think food servers , after covid, know to keep all their droplets to themselves.

Biscuitmuncher

*Chestnut * were not in a pandemic anymore. And if masks worked the virus would have never left China

We most definitely are in the middle of a pandemic, the Indian variant is still spreading in the UK and the world is still in the grip of it. The virus left China because people were allowed to travel and brought it with them.

Masks do work to a certain extent, but they have to be worn properly.
Viruses don’t try to exterminate their hosts, it is not to their advantage. They mutate so as to infect as many hosts as possible without killing them.
Humankind needs sub clinical infections of many kinds, bacterial, viral, etc., to survive assaults to their immune systems.

I think they should wear masks ans clean gloves even after covid, for food handling, and yes, nor handle money as well.And ill accept we are no longer in a pandemic when the sicknees/deaths from covid have stopped entirely and WHO says its completely been eradicated!

Sickness*typo

I would think it would be impractical. can you imagine rushing round a extremely hot kitchen assembling meals wearing a mask. I would think anyone in that situation would be gasping for air.

I understand the panic during COVID, but otherwise I find this obsession with extreme hygiene rather peculiar. Your body is covered with bacteria, good and bad, you would die without all the bacteria contained within the body, I do not just mean the digestive biome. The air is full of bacteria as is every surface in your house, you breathe it in with every breath. Most of this bacteria is common to all humankind.

Are you constantly hearing of people keeling over with bacterial infections as a matter of course? I don't.

Yes, there are harmful bacteria around, but for most of us our immune systems cope perfectly well with it. Those with impaired immune usually know and are advised what protection to take. An immune system which is never challenged is a weak immune system

For more harmful common ones like flu there are vaccinations. Occasionally, very occasionally, there are illnesses like COVID where we do have to go to extreme lengths to control it, but as long as a kitchen is clean and cleaned regularly and, yes hair is tied back and the staff start the day with clean aprons, I am completely laid back about the rest.

MOnica exactly!