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

In Japan and China its part of the norm to wear masks. They do it to protect each other from any viruses they are carrying.

Personally as irritating as masks can be I would personally like to see them carry on in enclosed public spaces. Won't happen though

Gloves are a waste of time - proper hand hygiene is best, ie frequent washing or sanitising. The only masks that are any real use are the medical grade disposable masks that were worn in hospitals/dentists before the pandemic. This is the type me and my husband use - as I understand it they give about 80% protection to the wearer as well as other people. I have trouble wearing a mask for more than 30 minutes continuously in hot weather - menopausal sweats make it a complete nightmare. Thinking someone should wear a mask in a hot kitchen continously is both cruel and unreasonable!

If Covid19 was mainly caught by being ingested rather than inhaled we’d all have died like flies by now. Just think of the people who constantly fiddle with masks whilst wearing them, for example.

It appears now that Covid is primarily caught by breathing in aerosol droplets, but of course clean hands and normal hygiene are important when food handling.

YES - they should were some kind of face/mouth covering.

They should also be made to tie their hair back and wear some kind of 'hair net/cap'.

Also they should NOT handle money in between serving customers. Even our local Pound Bakery, has a system where you pay at a separate till for what you've bought at the counter - and it was like that LONG before Covid!

Good to be able to congratulate one of this country's cheapest food outlets for getting SOMETHING right .

Biscuitmuncher

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

It wasn't just Chinese people - who WERE sometimes prone to wearing masks - who brought Covid over here.

Remember that Cruise Ship where lots of the people on board had tested positive for Covid and then came back to the UK.

I'm with Monica. The value of wearing of masks is controversial. I think the WHO disputes their value. I wear a mask only when I have to, I can't wait to be mask-free. And hopefully eventually not see them littering the pavements which must be a danger in itself.

I think it’s disgusting when I watch cookery programmes and the participants are kneading bread or pastry with massive chunky rings on their fingers. Also nail polish.

Very unhygienic.

@Skydancer

Having watched the TV graphics showing how droplets from people's breath can spread in enclosed spaces, I'd feel happier if people preparing my food in future always wore masks. In fact I'm getting a bit paranoid about this thinking what droplets could be falling on something I'm going to eat.

So when you're preparing food for your family would you be wearing a mask! So as not to be breathing all over their food?

It works in all Dittisham, not just people who are paid to prepare/ handle food.

I agree with MOnica

If we didn’t build up an immunity we would become like a long-isolated Amazon tribe which isn’t resistant to even the normal common cold.

Chestnut:
I agree that food shops shoud have reasonable standards of hygiene.
But food now is usually wrapped well before it gets to the customer. It is placed on the supermarket conveyor belt by the customer, taken off and packed - also by the customer. Payment is now usually by credit card - often contactless. Small enterprises, eg tea vans selling take-aways haven't the staff or the facilities to have one person handling food and another dealing with payment.
My husband used these a lot when cycling especially when the rules were "take out food only". I'm just glad I can now have a cup of tea sitting down in comfort in a cafe.

I sympathise with the staff who have not only to serve the food but also wipe down the tables after every customer, and take their contact details to comply with the covid restrictions and explain why the number of people at a table is limited to 6 - and wear a mask all the time - I wouldn't want to do it.

I agree with M0nica.

Many years ago I went out to eat with about five friends and one of us got sick for about a week with food poisoning and all the rest of us were fine. The one who got sick came from a home where everything was virtually sterilised.

I agree, I think food handlers should wear masks, and payment should be taken by someone other than the food handler. I have long thought about chefs dripping sweat into our food - as you sometimes see on a cookery programme where it features a hot kitchen and chefs mopping their foreheads. Surely Biscuitmuncher and MOnica you would find that thought unpleasant, Covid aside??....

It's so hot in the kitchens preparing food normally, it must be horrendous with a mask. I can't make up my mind as I feel sorry for them spending hours masked up, but in the other hand hygiene is a must.

I doubt it is necessary. After all, we have all eaten food prepared by others and have seldom taken ill as a result.

If such a law was to be passed, I could perhaps understand its application to food that is eaten raw, but food that is both washed and cooked is a different matter.

Certainly, the standard of cleanliness could and perhaps should be higher in many food shops and restaurants or cafeterias, but there does seem to be an argument for the point of view that too much mask-wearing and use of hand sanitizers may actually decrease our immunity to ordinary infections.

In my innocence I thought they already wear masks.

I work in a bakery/ sandwich shop. We are not required to wear masks when we are cooking at the griddle. The covid police informed us when visiting to see if we were aware of rules and regs

If it would mean that we couldn't hear Gordon Ramsay's foul language, I'm all in favour!

Seriously though I think masks should be worn by those preparing food - and worn properly covering nose and mouth.

And how many people go to birthday partys,?? eat birthday cake after the candles have been blown out with all that that entails?

Apart from whether or not Covid or bacteria can be transmitted poor hygiene can be off putting. For instance an assistant sneezing whilst slicing ham off the bone. In the bakers taking out the rubbish bins and serving unwrapped loaves. In a factory canteen it was found that excreta was found on the food caused by staff not washing their hands after going to the loo. I could cite many other instances.

I would like to see the results of research (must be some of decent quality) on mask wearing/contamination when worn over a long period, i.e. a working day. Would masks need changing frequently? Would workers comply? Would this affect our immune systems?

I am very much pro-mask in our Covid time but again and again see people with masks under their noses, only mouths are covered and I have seen one hospital nurse wearing her mask like this! Employees may not be happy at masks being made mandatory.

Personally, I would have three or more chest infections between October and March, sometimes more but last winter, not one. Yes, I didn't socialise or use public transport but was out and about and through necessity in and out of hospitals/GP surgeries and not one sniffle did I have.

I will continue wearing masks in the future when outside my house and mixing with large groups of people. Seems sensible to me in my circumstance. Whether this latches on to the public's psyche, I don't know but would hope so.

If I were a food-handler, I presume that if presented with the choice of wearing a mask or no job, I guess I would choose the former and in time perhaps this would become the norm.

If the pandemic ever ends then it seems to me that it would be a good idea to nevertheless retain some of the precautionary measures that have arisen. For example, the plastic screens between customers and the people at the checkout. Even adding them as standard in new installations of checkouts.

Will 'going back to normal' mean accepting twenty thousand deaths from flu each winter when a few COVID-19-era precautions could reduce or even eliminate them?

I remember, years ago, being in a short queue in a cake shop, and the lady serving was taking money and handling cakes, and a pair of tongs was lying unused on the counter.

I decided to quietly leave the shop before I reached the front of the queue.

I once saw something about how some people from a London hospital had gone out and taken swab samples from buttons on pelican crossings, the chained pens on the counter in banks and so on and found MRSA contamination widespread. I never touched a pelican crossing button after that and I always took my own pen to the bank too. Going over the top or being sensible? I don't know how many illnesses I may have avoided - none? lots? I just don't know.

Erring on the side of caution may not be necessary - but it might be, so best to do it in my opinion.

Having spent most of my life in food. My staff weren’t allowed to wear heavy makeup, fake nails or loose hair. But also wore a hair net. I do agree that ppl in regular food shops etc. Don’t stick to the same standards and they should. I have completed to many a shop about it. I think it should be standard practice. But what is shocking me the most is how many ppl don’t sanitizer their hands before walking into these shops that you are complaining about, I always wash and sanitizer well before covid came. Yet most ppl walk past me and don’t bother anymore. So the general public have even stopped. Double standards

Agree Monica, think there will be less food prep staff imo wanting to work in that field!

I've had both my Astra-Zenica vaccinations. My husband and I are on the Office of National Statistics testing. we were both tested (both blood and swabs) after the 2nd vaccination.
My husband came back with antibodies but I have no antibodies. I am presuming that it's because I have been taking Prednisolone since last August (10 months) and this lowers your immunity.
At least I know that I have no antibodies so I will have to be extra careful, but I only know this because I was asked if I wanted to be on ONS testing and accepted!
I'm going to try to have a telephone appointment with my GP after the Bank Holiday to see if there's anything I should be doing/ not doing or if I'm able to have maybe the Moderna vaccination to see if that works any better for me.

The idea is quite good but wouldn’t work if they accidentally coughed or sneezed. Let’s face it, the medical fraternity have been having to wear their masks for hours, not pleasant but necessary.