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

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

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.

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

In my innocence I thought they already wear masks.

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.

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 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??....

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.

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 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.

@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 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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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!

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

InnChina and other southern Asian countires, masks are worn because the air pollution is so bad. It comes from forest burning in Indonesia and the use of brown coal and the lack of clean air regulations in China.

Keffie12

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

Have you ever been to China? I have. I didn’t see the sun for 3 weeks. That wasn’t anything to do with bad weather, just horrendous pollution ?

Biscuitmuncher

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

The pandemic is over? Did I miss the celebration parties?

Sorry, but this made me laugh. I remember, as a child, going to the corner shop for 1/4lb of ham for sandwishes for mum. The corner shop where, in summer, bluebottles flying all over the place, shop keeper slicing up the meat with a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth with the ash flicking everywhere as she spoke. Amazing how we didn't all die from food poisoning.

effalump a lot of people did die from food poisoning. That is why we have all the rules about food hygiene now and restaurants have their cleanliness score on the door nd most supermarket food is pre-packed.

The food poisoning incidents now happen further up the chain, often with cheap chicken products. It is estimated that nearly 2.5 million people in the UK suffer a food poisoning episode each year

As recently as February this year the Food Standards Agency issued a series of recalls for suspect processed chicken available at Sainsbury, Morrisons Lidl, Aldi, and Iceland.

Many of the food poisoning incidents on this thread are spread by bacteria, which are more likely to be on food from infected hands, infected fertiliser or poor storage. Masks wouldn't prevent that. The most common viral food infection is norovirus, which is relatively rare.

Biscuitmuncher

Lucca very anti lockdown. And I hate the absolutely pointless masks

They're not pointless.