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

Ah yes I know someone who only drinks from cups at the opposite side to the handle. In my house! With a dishwasher on the go! I always thought I was the germaphobe.

I agree totally with MissAdventure - this obsession with cleanliness is one reason why people's immune systems are so compromised. Unless you are prepared to wear disposable gloves (also adding to the growing amount of non-recyclable waste) every time you go into your own (let alone a public toilet) you might as well forget anything else because germs are all over toilets, on the door handles, on the taps, on the paper dispenser, on the handles on the doors going out of the toilets etc. And there is abundant research to demonstrate that pristine environments promote asthma in young children because they are not exposed to minimal amounts of germs and therefore cannot build up their immunity. So take your antibacterial wipes with you to clean your coffee cup rim, but do remember that these wipes are NOT organic and therefore you are automatically subjecting your system to some chemical input.

Shock and horror, when in the 'coffee queue' at my local supermarket I observed one member of staff actually placing his fingers inside' of newly washed cups to lift them out of a tray ready for staff who were serving the customers. Needless to say I walked out but how do we know this does not go on elsewhere?

It is impossible to avoid germs! Handrails on staircases, handles on supermarket trolley, door handles/knobs etc.

We just need to be sensible about this.

Surely in public places you, the staff and anyone else handles the chairs, the doors, touches the tables, and supplies are delivered from outside. How can you be assured that no germs are spread?

Longhaulgran don’t eat out stay home much safer

Herpes virus like Aids isn’t caught from cups or toilets it doesn’t live outside the warm environment of the skin and you wouldn’t get it ‘routinely’ from drinking from a certain restaurant, once you have the virus activated it can spring up at any time whether you drink in or out it’s not something that you catch from using mugs

I am amazed that any of us that drink and eat at restaurants cafes or coffee shops are even alive I used to visit an old lady who always insisted on me having a biscuit and cup of tea I did balk slightly one day when I picked the current bun up to eat and realised the currents were moving ?

MissAdenture - yes, they'll be using their own cups - with the 'added bonus' of in effect using every other customer's cup as well through the spread of germs/bacteria on those other customers cups.

The barista handles, bare-handed, for example, a cup given them by someone who's just used the convenience without washing their hands - then without gloving up or washing his/her hands, accepts YOUR cup/mug and handles it to make your coffee. Yum - right? (not in my mind, but heigh ho. Clearly people are ok with risking theirs and everyone else' health)

I'll say it again - this 'green' push is a public health menace.

But people will only be using their own cups, if I've read correctly?

I agree completely with the OP - there is a serious public health risk in people bringing in their own mug for a barista to fill.

Herpes virus is so easily spread ('cold sores' after using a glass, mug, or teacup says everything about the establishment hygiene standards being very low - a properly set industrial dishwasher will kill the virus but one set to save energy will not, end of. If I routinely developed cold sores from restaurant or tearoom crockery I'd be making strenuous complaint or at least avoiding the place for the plague locus it is), and that's just the start of the problem - staphylococcus, e.coli, hepatitis...I could go on but the point is why take the chance with public health?! NHS is burdened enough without adding to the strain by in effect taking in whatever germs the last mug to be filled carried.

Like you NanaMacGeek my immune system has been damaged, so I can understand your concern; but it’s all too easy to overthink this kind of issue. We can all make choices relevant to our own circumstances and I shall continue to make my own cups of coffee at home, in what I perceive to be suitably sterile and hygienic conditions (?!), along with the occasional treat of a delicious mug of latte from a suspect and unverified source. Life is for living, and all too short!

I think the OP has a point, inasmuch as she has a compromised immune system. On the other hand, I do think that there is a decidedly over the top attitude to hygiene in some respects.
As for the wooden platter thing, I can understand that it is not to the taste of all, but I can say that my grandfather made wooden dinner plates for my mother and they are a much coveted family heirloom (my kids will fight over them, no doubt) In what refers to the hygiene of using them, there is actually evidence to say that they are not unhygienic
www.restaurant-hospitality.com/operations/are-wooden-boards-good-option-table-service
Also, the restaurant that was fined, it was because the platters in question needed replacing, as they were in bad condition (if you read the entire article, you will see the reasoning)

I don't understand the need for people to buy coffee and then walk about the streets drinking it; bad manners.

By the very definition that this group is called gransnet I'm guessing that we are all at least of a certain age.
Our childhood and younger days were spent playing outside, getting dirty, no dishwashers in our home and anti bacterial wipes were unheard of.
I do think we have become obsessed with germs and being sterile.
Of course I stay clean, wash up, wash my hands and expect a clean cup and eating utensils but not to the point of worrying unduly about it.
You and I may wash our hands after going to a public toilet...but can we be certain the person who touched the exit door before us did the same? No.
But we cannot avoid using public toilets. So why avoid using cups in cafes that just may have a slim chance of having a germ or two.
*That said I do appreciate the need for extra caution for someone who has a diagnosed poor immune system.

Has the world gone crazy? £3 for a cup of coffee in most coffee shops, they should be able to provide an easily disposable coffee cup for take away drinks in that cost. Come on these places are making mega bucks, they have a responsibility to the environment as much as we do. I have a poor immune system, I'm really careful where I get my food. If it's suspect move on.

I often have coffee out and am not worried by china cups, they have to go through a dishwasher. However, I think that allowing possibly unwashed cups to be handled as part of normal food service goes against food handling regulations. I trained in food chemistry and worked in environmental health (in a role now known as a licensed food safety officer), carrying out inspections in restaurants and care homes.
Also, like some of you, the thought of wooden platters being used for food goes against the grain (literally). I don't really see the difference in risk between staff serving food either in reused cups or on wooden platters, neither of which may pass through a dishwasher. So perhaps I'm not on my own after all.

I am concerned about the risks to paying customers who have a right to expect suitable hygiene standards. Just because the risks to me are higher than average, it doesn't mean that I am paranoid. Well-trained staff are the key to keeping paying customers safe, I'd like a barista like Deedaa to serve me though.

willsmadnan by ponder i was only meaning that sometimes tge thought crosses my mind. Also willsmadnan so if a friend gave you a glass of orange juice or waterever with red lipstick clearly visible which you only spotted just as raised the glass to your own mouth would you feel happy to drink from the glass knowing that your friend doesn't ever wear red lipstick? Overthinking

You have a point yogagran. Have a look at this this: "A restaurant has been fined £50,000 by magistrates for serving food on wooden boards"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-42582900

Never did like having my food served up on a broken bit of wood.

Having worked as a barista I always pull them up if I see them picking a cup up by the rim instead of the handle. It soon becomes automatic to use the handle and obviously lipstick marks are completely unacceptable.

In the local Starbucks I have used if you are drinking the coffee etc on the premises they give it to you in a clean china cup/mug depending on the size of drink. I have yet to have a dirty vessel from there or from Costa or Nero. I have only had disposable mugs from Motorway Service stations etc.
I would rather pay an extra pence on my coffee to allow them to sterilise the drinking vessels between customers in a dishwasher.

I'm not bothered about coffee mugs but my bugbear is wooden platters when eating out. How can they be properly cleaned between each use and some of them look very well used anyway

My grandson has Cystic Fibrosis which compromises his immune system. He’s only 7 so not yet drinking coffee but I feel that staff should be trained to keep all drinking vessels and plates really clean. They should also have to wash their hands frequently. Not just for people with immune system problems but for everybody. Maybe we’d all catch a lot fewer colds and it would help to stop the spread of other viruses.

Just pop a pack of anti bac wipes in your bag as Pittcity suggested. You need to feel comfortable when out and about. I am forever getting mouth ulcers off glasses when dining out. Low immunity is a different thing altogether.

I agree Smithy ...it is nice to go out for a coffee, a drink and/or a meal whilst 'out and about'. And in the average UK town centre you will find an independent establishment which will involve a cup, plate or glass having gone through a dishwasher. The moral of the story is..... support your local coffee shop, tea-room, wine bar or pub.I look forward to the day these global environmental bandits are run out of town!
The answer lies with us, the consumer.

Well I wasn’t in any way meaning to be harsh Smithy I have every sympathy for any one with any kind of allergy/ intolerance or compromised system ( I have a close family member with allergies ) but you have to cut your clothe accordingly and if you know you can be ill from germs then you must find a way of managing that, so if it’s taking your own cup/mug and pouring the coffee into it or wether it’s inviting others to your house for coffee or as someone said taking a wipe with you ( although I d be more concerned with the chemicals in wipes personally) that’s unfortunately what you have to do and that’s a totally practical post not at all harsh