# Unhygienic food in supermarkets



## truthseeker (28 Aug 2012)

My local supermarket has a low table of tasty looking baked goods right as you walk in the door. Things like chocolate dipped donuts, or danish pastries. Ive lost count of the number of times Ive seen a small child handling the tasties, in once case licking the donut, or taking a bite, or picking a bit off. Its disgusting! Needless to say I never have and never will buy baked goods there! Its hardly the kids fault either, why dont the shop have the cop on to have unwrapped food higher up?

Its not just tasty looking stuff it happens with, I was in LIDL last week, about to buy one of their fresh baked breads - which I HAVE bought before - and as I walked up a child was systematically handling the stuff on the lower level, with dirty hands. His father saw me looking and called the child away. Now I cant buy that stuff either 

Does this annoy anyone else?


----------



## Sunny (28 Aug 2012)

Yep! Not just kids either. Look at the amount of adults that manhandle bread!!


----------



## AgathaC (28 Aug 2012)

Yes, I am the same. Really cannot bear to see unwrapped food. A lot of supermarkets display unwrapped bread, or another 'favourite' of mine is coffee shops with scones etc left out on display, all the better to be pawed and so on...yeuch.


----------



## becky (28 Aug 2012)

I was in Dunnes at the catrice counter when a girl of about 9 stood beside me and put some lip gloss on.  Her mom was there but didn't see it as she was so fast.  I rekon she does it every week.

That said I don't think about it too much as it would mean I couldn't have my self serve coffee every morning.

I


----------



## gianni (28 Aug 2012)

Sunny said:


> Yep! Not just kids either. Look at the amount of adults that manhandle bread!!



This is one of my pet hates!!

People who squeeze the life out of a (packaged) slice pan to ascertain its freshness and promptly take the unmolested one beside it....


----------



## Boyd (29 Aug 2012)

becky said:


> I was in Dunnes at the catrice counter when a girl of about 9 stood beside me and put some lip gloss on.  Her mom was there but didn't see it as she was so fast.  I rekon she does it every week.
> 
> That said I don't think about it too much as it would mean I couldn't have my self serve coffee every morning.



Does this make absolutely no sense or is it just me?!


----------



## Sunny (29 Aug 2012)

username123 said:


> Does this make absolutely no sense or is it just me?!


 
I presume it means she put on lip gloss that was for sale on the counter.


----------



## Boyd (29 Aug 2012)

What has that got to do with her morning coffee?


----------



## truthseeker (29 Aug 2012)

gianni said:


> This is one of my pet hates!!
> 
> People who squeeze the life out of a (packaged) slice pan to ascertain its freshness and promptly take the unmolested one beside it....



Why would people do that? Im missing something here. I squeeze bread, but I buy the squeezed one because if I were to take the one next to it I could be taking a less fresh one, I only know the freshness from the squeezing!


----------



## liaconn (29 Aug 2012)

I never buy unpackaged goods or stuff from the salad bars in supermarkets. I saw kids having a sword fight with two baguettes in Tesco once and then putting them back in the basket. I am sure people also sneeze around these goods as well as pawing them, letting their kids pick them up and put them down etc. It's just really unhygenic and off putting.


----------



## Bronco Lane (29 Aug 2012)

In Tesco in Stillorgan they have a small table of unpackaged designer type breads near the customer service desk. The breads are piled high like a small skyscraper. I have lost count at the number of times someone has taken a loaf off this wobbling skyscraper only to see several come crashing to the floor. These are then picked up and put back on the skyscraper again.
Today in the same supermarket there was this middle aged woman very happy to spread her germs, coughing straight ahead without covering her mouth as she strolled past the fruit and veg area.
Regarding the squeezing of bread. There is a best before date on the wrapper of every pan. No need to squeeze just look at the date.


----------



## becky (29 Aug 2012)

username123 said:


> What has that got to do with her morning coffee?



All the cups, lids and spoons things are handled by random people who may or may not have washed their hands.

Then there is the danger of people coughing and sneezing all over them.


----------



## Purple (29 Aug 2012)

You can catch a virus from so many sources (handling money being a major one) that it’s not worth getting too worried about it.
I have no problem buying bread in Lidl but I do pick from the back/top of the shelf. We do have an immune system so we can deal with most of what’s thrown at us.


----------



## truthseeker (29 Aug 2012)

Purple said:


> You can catch a virus from so many sources (handling money being a major one) that it’s not worth getting too worried about it.
> I have no problem buying bread in Lidl but I do pick from the back/top of the shelf. We do have an immune system so we can deal with most of what’s thrown at us.



Yeah, I wouldnt be worried that I was going to get sick from it. 

Its the ugh/squeamish factor that stops me. The child in question that I watched handling the open bread in LIDL had dirty sticky hands, as he was called away by his father he put one hand to his mouth (which was also dirty and sticky), so presumably alongside whatever other dirty stickiness that was going on his saliva was in there too.

Id just rather not be eating dirty stickiness!


----------



## MrMan (29 Aug 2012)

liaconn said:


> I never buy unpackaged goods or stuff from the salad bars in supermarkets. I saw kids having a sword fight with two baguettes in Tesco once and then putting them back in the basket. I am sure people also sneeze around these goods as well as pawing them, letting their kids pick them up and put them down etc. It's just really unhygenic and off putting.



Imagine what happens in factories and bakeries before things get packaged, it's not worth getting worked up over.


----------



## truthseeker (29 Aug 2012)

MrMan said:


> Imagine what happens in factories and bakeries before things get packaged, it's not worth getting worked up over.



Ive worked in a bakery and the hygiene levels were really high, gloves, masks, hairnets etc... There are basic levels that must be adhered to or you will risk being shut down by the state.


----------



## gianni (29 Aug 2012)

truthseeker said:


> Why would people do that? Im missing something here. I squeeze bread, but I buy the squeezed one because if I were to take the one next to it I could be taking a less fresh one, I only know the freshness from the squeezing!



The date labels on the bread let you know which loaves were delivered at the same time. I've seen people squeeze a loaf, look at the date and take an 'unsqueezed' one with the same date.

Now I'm curious, what do you do with the bread you squeeze and decide isn't fresh ?


----------



## truthseeker (29 Aug 2012)

Checking the date means taking it down off the shelf and with some shelves they are tilted so the next bread slips into place and Im pretty small so it could be hard to put it back etc... Plus Im not much of a believer in dates on goods.

I must admit its rare I squeeze and dont buy, but on the odd occasion, I leave it there. I dont squeeze hard though - youd barely know Id molested it


----------



## MrMan (31 Aug 2012)

truthseeker said:


> Ive worked in a bakery and the hygiene levels were really high, gloves, masks, hairnets etc... There are basic levels that must be adhered to or you will risk being shut down by the state.



So there is definitely no chance of someone snnezing, hair falling in, bugs dropping into the mix etc?? My point really is that people generally operate under 'ignorance is bliss' when it comes to food - myself included. I know times have changed, but my Dad worked in a bakery many moons ago and they made the nicest bread, but he had plenty of rodent related stories that would turn your stomach.


----------



## Chris (31 Aug 2012)

Purple makes a very good point regarding money. People handle it so much without ever thinking about what might be on it and washing their hands before eating. 
Anyway to add to the story I have to say that if this bothers people so much then why are you not complaining to management of the shops. I'll give you a story from a couple of years ago. My local Supervalue had a similar stand of deserts and I regularly saw people picking up unpacked stuff, sticking their nose at it and then putting it back, or kids taking little bites. I asked to speak to the manager and was told he wasn't available until the following day. That suited me perfectly as I knew that on the Friday afternoon the place would be full of shoppers doing their weekend shop.
Anyway, I went in, called over the manager and made an almighty scene over the hygiene of the unpacked food and called over random people to ask their opinion, which attracted a crowd. Went back a few days later and they had replaced the table to be much higher out of reach of young kids and all the food was now in either paper or plastic wrapping. 
You need to complain in a very public way and ideally in numbers, otherwise nothing will change.


----------



## truthseeker (31 Aug 2012)

MrMan said:


> So there is definitely no chance of someone snnezing, hair falling in, bugs dropping into the mix etc?? My point really is that people generally operate under 'ignorance is bliss' when it comes to food - myself included. I know times have changed, but my Dad worked in a bakery many moons ago and they made the nicest bread, but he had plenty of rodent related stories that would turn your stomach.



Ah of course there is a chance, there is always a chance. But certainly from my bakery working days, the chance was far far higher that the food was being contaminated after it left the relatively sterile environment where it was produced.


----------



## liaconn (31 Aug 2012)

Chris said:


> Purple makes a very good point regarding money. People handle it so much without ever thinking about what might be on it and washing their hands before eating.
> Anyway to add to the story I have to say that if this bothers people so much then why are you not complaining to management of the shops. I'll give you a story from a couple of years ago. My local Supervalue had a similar stand of deserts and I regularly saw people picking up unpacked stuff, sticking their nose at it and then putting it back, or kids taking little bites. I asked to speak to the manager and was told he wasn't available until the following day. That suited me perfectly as I knew that on the Friday afternoon the place would be full of shoppers doing their weekend shop.
> Anyway, I went in, called over the manager and made an almighty scene over the hygiene of the unpacked food and called over random people to ask their opinion, which attracted a crowd. Went back a few days later and they had replaced the table to be much higher out of reach of young kids and all the food was now in either paper or plastic wrapping.
> You need to complain in a very public way and ideally in numbers, otherwise nothing will change.


 
There's a lovely shop near my mother's which sells beautiful looking bread and cakes. My mother has been asking them for years not to display it unwrapped as there is no way she will buy stuff that other customers have been mauling and coughing over. Only recently have they listened to her. I think you need a volume of complaints for shops to listen and start displaying their goods more hygienically.
I know, in reality, we haven't a clue what goes on behind the scenes in restaurants or even in friends' houses when we go over for dinner. But it's the fact that I can actually see people handling the goods, sneezing etc that is off putting.


----------



## thesimpsons (31 Aug 2012)

there's a coffee shop near me which also sells breads and cakes.  some of the the breads are on top of a glass display unit at almost mouth level for customers.  customers are constantly breathing, sneezing and dropping money over the breads.  I wouldn't get something from there if it was free.


----------



## AgathaC (31 Aug 2012)

thesimpsons said:


> there's a coffee shop near me which also sells breads and cakes. some of the the breads are on top of a glass display unit at almost mouth level for customers. customers are constantly breathing, sneezing and dropping money over the breads. I wouldn't get something from there if it was free.


 Agreed, I couldnt bear to buy stuff left out like this, having been pawed, sneezed on etc. Ugh.


----------



## IsleOfMan (1 Sep 2012)

Insomnia in Donnybrook have their scones/muffins covered with a cellophane sheet to protect them from coughs sneezes etc. Yet in practically every other Insomnia outlet this is not the case. I don't know if this is the branch manager showing a bit of initiative or concern in this outlet but it is highly commended. 
Although, the cellophane sheet is exactly the right size for the basket that it is covering. Methinks the other outlets are supposed to do this but don't bother.


----------

