Food hygiene, the great pretence?

[Paul C]

Don't get me wrong here, i'm not one of those people that

has to go shower if someone near me coughs, and i have

eaten chips with dirt under my fingernails many times...

But.

Whats with the perceived food hygiene thing in food shops nowadays?

In Oxford, go to any sandwich/bagette shop and the people sure enough

have the plastic/latex gloves on when serving behind the counter. Typically

one hand is gloved and they take your change with the bare hand. This of

course would be fine, except you have just seen your food prepared with

both hands. This is typical of just about anywhere, the gloves really are a

total pretence at hygiene. Often the gloved hand takes the money anyway

so the glove might as well not be there.

What prompted this question was something i noticed in town on saturday.

I went to my favorite butcher to get some bangers for sunday breakfast, he

picked up my bangers bare handed, wrapped them, took my money bare handed,

operated the till, and gave me my change along with a reciept with a little bloody

fingerprint on it. On the way home i popped into the bakery and got some bread

rolls, paying the guy with coins that had previously been dabbed with raw meat.

He took my coins, put them in the till (unknowingly contaminating the till and all

the coins in it) and then with the same hands went on to serve the next customer.

He did have those hygiene gloves on though, so thats ok right?

Now i'm not put off, in fact i really enjoyed both my sausages, and the fact i can

still shop with my local small business. People have been buying meat from guys

with bloody hands since trading began and we are all still here. I just think that if

you look about, there seems to be a real 'display' of hygiene that is such nonsense

that it might as well not be there. Anyone else noticed?

Two old ladies are walking past the bakers, they peek through the window and see

the baker putting the rim on his pies, he does it by taking out his false teeth and then

pressing them round the edge of the crust. "Thats disgusting!" says one of the old

ladies to her friend. "Thats nothing" her friend says back, "you should see how he

puts the holes in his doughnuts...".

[V8 Owners Fem Slave]

lol interesting observation

so best plan would be to get your bread, then veg, then leave the raw meats till last, go home and clean all your coins...lol

purza

[Loteuk]

I pulled the bloke making me a sandwich at Subway after the same thing.

I asked him if the gloves were for my protection or his?? He got grumpy and threw the sandwich away, washed his hands and put on fresh gloves, removed them to take the change..........

I see this here in kings cross in the sandwich bars (don t frequent now) but there may be 4 staff serving and the gloves they wear are almost yellow with dirt.

Lots of cross contamination but its comforting to see the hygeine certs on the wall - phew!

Yep, a few germs never hurt anyone but jeeez, why the pretence?

Look at the difference with the American fast foods and their hygene...........

249 and full-on charge to the finish.................

[Tentenths]

Off topic... just one more post Tony

[stephenbirdsall]

Yep, a few germs never hurt anyone but jeeez, why the pretence?

If there wasn't the pretence, they wouldn't be allowed to open.

[GordonMasson]

I have noticed something kind of similar regarding serving drinks.

When I was at university I was a barman and we were always told to hold glasses by the stem or the body of the glass.

On quite a few occasions lately I have seen barmen and waitresses picking up glasses from above and holding them by the rim

[mr.oogieboogie]

hello everyone.

i'm the planning manager for a company that supplies tesco with sandwiches. before they are made the people who are going to make them have hair nets on, wellington boots, wash their hands, they then put on clean overalls (sealed) they then go through a boot wash and wash their hands again then after drying apply hand sanitiser.

also in between each product there is a clean down of the belt that they are making the sandwichs on.

very clean as it should be.

all the best

[Bibs]

Do you work at Buckingham Foods?

I've been to EAT a few times, I placed a good number of staff there, do you know Kerry Boyd? Hygiene in food factories is spot on at most I've been to, the Grampian chicken factory had 4 welly washes before you got into the production area and I had to wear a beard snood!

[mr.oogieboogie]

no. i'm at solway foods in worksop, north notts. and anyone with a beard has a snood.

all the best

[esprit350]

cleanest place I have ever been was a dog breeding kennels for medical testing, cant tell you where sorry. had to shower and wash hair to go in, then wear wellies etc if we went out to the van, shower again and another hair wash, same again at lunch time etc

[Bibs]

no. i'm at solway foods in worksop, north notts. and anyone with a beard has a snood.

all the best

I think I've dealt with Solway in the past! Have you ever heard of Jonas Consulting? I used to be the Ops Director there!

[iainskea]

Sorry Paul,

Hate to worry you but I think lackadaisical adherence to food hygiene is a catastrophic disaster waiting to (and will) happen.

The 'ol human digestive system can only put up with so many germs. The difference being from a mild case of sore tummy to septic shock syndrome.

I am not phobic about hygiene , but I will wash my hands before eating and if I see food being prepared without gloves I will say something and probably not buy the product.

Iain

Edited December 6, 2007 by iainskea

[Paul C]

Maybe it's like 'War of the worlds' and we have earned our immunity by a billion deaths?

Perhaps if an invading alien force came to my town, bought some bread, went to

the butchers, used the cashpoint near the public bogs and then ate a kebab, then

they would all be wiped out by the morning?

Here's another:

When you are 'anywhere' and someone behind the bar/counter coughs and politely

covers their mouth. How often do they say 'Excuse me a minute' and go and wash

their hands while you wait?

Scary eh?

[mayevora]

Its the please help yourself 'peanuts on the bar' I stay well away from for the obvious reason.