Re-useable coffee cups and food hygiene, am I the only one to be worried?

I will never support the large coffee shop chains because of their tax avoidance schemes and the cost of their products and I hate the smell and taste of coffee anyway. I'm also not keen on what I call 'restaurant tea' so I may have a hot chocolate occasionally but usually I carry my own home made juice or just tap water around. The government is talking about a 5p tax on non recyclable cups. That's ridiculous and will make very little difference as to whether people bring their own mug. It needs to be at least 50p, if not £1, the same should apply to plastic bags too. When there are no whales left and we have all been poisoned by the toxins inside the sea creatures we eat perhaps we will wish we had not been so selfish and short sighted in our treatment of nature.

I do not think we are being unreasonable in demanding that people serving food and drinks do not handle the rim of a cup or glass. After all we were all taught to pass a cup or mug by the handle if it wasn't on a saucer, weren't we?

True enough, we grew up without dishwashers in our homes and played outside and got dirty, but the standard of hygiene in many homes was higher then than now IMO.

I was taught to cover my mouth and nose if I sneezed or coughed and to wash my hands afterwards before going back to serving or making food, so I am sure were you, but how often do you see young people observing these precautions even when they are serving food?

Many reusable cups for drinks to go have lids. The edge of the lid serves as the drinking edge. When I use mine I keep hold of the lid and put it on myself so any germs on it are and always have been my responsibility.

I've not read the whole thread but I would MUCH rather have a proper china cup than a paper one. That's even without cosiderering the environmental damage caused by disposable cups.

I am a little confused - I saw the news yesterday but I didn't think they were talking about re-using disposable cups but introducing re-usable cups?

Recycling and re-using happens in many countries. I buy my milk this way - the first time you go to the dairy you buy a glass bottle. You fill it up, wash it and then take it back to refill it again.

Don't eat or drink out. That's the only way you can be 'almost' sure that your immune system won't be compromised. What happens when you visit friends? What about buying bread which is not pre-packed? Other people handle it and not always with the tongs provided. What about cheese from the cheese counter? There MUST be hundreds of ways that we (everyone) encounter germs on a daily basis and we don't wear gloves or carry hand wipes. Has your doctor said that drinking out of a cup handled by someone else will result in your immune system bringing you down? Why not discuss your very worrying concerns with your GP. It's obviously causing you to be somewhat fearful and stressed and that's never a good thing. I hope your doctor can set your mind at rest and you can enjoy a coffee 'to go' without worry.

Coast35

Everyone who works in a place which prepares and sells food HAS to have a food hygiene certificate, which is a one day course with exam.

You have a choice. If you're never exposed to ANY germs then you will have a less than robust immune system. As for wiping the rim of a cup or glass handled by a barista or whoever...with an anti-bac wipe. They are made from recycled plastic and other materials and are not flushable, thus adding to the mountain of waste that we can no longer send to China as landfill. They have stopped accepting our rubbish and quite right too.

I'm concerned that some outlets might get sniffy about the type of cup you can bring and have you seen the price of some of them? We have several steel insulated ones - giveaways from DS's company but carting one around means bigger handbag.

NanaMacGreek

How do you think that cups/mugs get from out of the dishwasher to the counter where coffee is served? Can you trust the coffee-shop staff NOT to touch the rims at any stage of the process. Can you rely on staff washing their hands after fiddling with their hair or touching a spot on their face or blowing their nose on a break.

I never use disposable cups, I find them revolting.

Yes, I have the same misgivings... I frequently go on cruises and there are notices on the water machines telling people not to use their own receptacles but to use one of the cups provided, to avoid spreading "disease". I have caught so many people sticking the rim of their water bottles into these machines and have admonished them, the staff seem afraid to approach a paying customer, so I have to do their job for them! Fortunately I never go into coffee shops so will avoid the new regime.

Nana, I feel the exact same as you, though I was shot down in flames when I posted my feelings on a Facebook group on the subject. I actually suffer from occasional cold sores and would be horrified if this horrible virus was passed on to some poor innocent. I’m not one of those who is constantly disinfecting everything, but this is one thing about which I am passionate.

Please explain how drinking out of your own coffee cup which you have taken into Starbucks or wherever is going to spread your herpes virus to others? Call me naïve but I just don’t follow this.

Well, my immune system is not great but I don't really follow this either - but then I rarely go into Starbucks and I do think they need to do something urgently about these non-disposable cups.

Whenever I have had a mouth ulcer I have attributed it to my immune system being particularly low - or to a change of toothpaste, not from picking it up from someone's else's poor washing up.

Why, if the cup has a handle, would anyone pick it up by the rim?

But it’s your own takeaway cup jalima so if anybody’s washing up is at fault it is yours!!
I must be seriously missing a point here - or somebody else is.
#pearlclutchers

GabriellaG, I don't think anyone would be happy to eat in the premises you describe in your last post but you misunderstand me. I'm not bothered by normal practices in a regulated food outlet, as you say, staff handling food are required to undergo training. I understand my risks very well and have sometimes complained and walked away. However, introducing possibly unwashed and contaminated containers into the serving area of a busy coffee bar moves the goalposts as far as I'm concerned.

I also hate the fact that we use disposable cups that can't be recycled. We need a better solution but don't believe that people providing their own coffee cups should be part of it.

But why not NanaMacGeek? If you took your own mug, from home, at least you'd know that it had been properly washed and dried, wouldn't you? If you were to ask the assistant in the coffee shop to only handle it by it's handle, you'd be assured that no extraneous germs had contaminated it, surely?

I am trying to imagine this.
Person hands over cup to barista, barista takes cup by handle and places it under the coffee machine which dispenses coffee. The cup is hot so barista takes it by the handle and puts it on the counter for the customer.

My immune system is not good and I am careful but this is definitely not something that would have been on my radar.

Well explained Jalima. That must reassure those who see germs lurking everywhere. And if they are still not reassured, well don't eat or drink outside the home. One's homemade germs are always the best aren't they? . I don't frequent the big coffee chains on principal. And on price, as someone up-thread said 3 quid for a cardboard cup of coffee is barmy.
I actually think the Starbucks takeaway coffee cup is a fashion accessory these days, like the obligatory plastic Volvic/Evian water bottle.

MawBroon, I'm sure that you would wash up your cup carefully, wrap it up and, when you fancied a cup of coffee when you are out shopping, hand it over safely to a barista to have it filled. But not everyone is like you. You could follow someone who has brought back his/her disposable cup from a couple of hours earlier (cup with no handle, possibly not even washed or swilled out in a washroom), barista busy and grabs the cup in hurry, puts her fingers on contaminated parts, fills cup touching the coffeee making equipment as part of the process, passes cup back and picks up yours. Imagine a busy coffee bar and think how often this may happen. It's introducing contamination which wasn't part of the process before.

Some are saying I'm paranoid but I think providing your own cup to get a discount to drink out (off the premises) is a poor solution to the problem of not being able to currently recycle disposable coffee cups.

I usually catch something from the DGC or when I use the bus. Public toilets and food outlets are much cleaner than transport and family.

I think, given the prices, my cup would be the size of a bucket.

I'm glad I drink tea!