Food handlers need a course in cleanliness

Donald · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 19:11:30 pm

Sales persons who work in food, when you ask for a sandwich or hamburger etc, and then the assistant sneezes into his or her hands and wipes their hands on their trousers or slacks and proceeds to handle the food or runs their hands through their hair which is quite common also, then proceeds to handle food without washing their hands, dirty filthy people they are.
When I see that and I've placed an order, (or before I place an order) I bolt forthwith.

Brummie · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 19:48:29 pm

I love the ones who make your sandwich, takes your money, gives you change (all with gloves) then serves the next customer. Obviously protecting themselves not the customers food.

I saw (many times) the girl who takes your money at Macdonalds joining the collars that went around the burgers and throwing them in a box ready to put around your next burger. They don't have them anymore do they?

I shop at Coles and I do notice that the deli girls change gloves between some of my purchases to prevent cross contamination

Tassie_Stamps · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 20:01:51 pm

How many people here go to a cafe and buys a muffin, piece of cake or slice, hands cash over and then washes their hands before they eat it? :roll:

When you go to McDonalds and buy your burger and fries and pay with cash, do you rush to the nearest toilet to wash your hands, then when leaving touch a door handle of the bathroom which is even more unhygienic whilst your meal is going cold???

They don't use the collars anymore Brummie.

I work in industry and some of the things you see happening behind the scenes in cafe's and restaurants you simply would not believe.

Oh and do you take a spray bottle to clean the salt and pepper shakers before you use them in a restaurant?

Or wash your hands after you touch a menu?

Have you ever touched a door handle? A lift button? A set of keys?

Heaven forbid. :shock:

There are germs everywhere.

I think some people need a course in common sense. :wink:

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 21:20:26 pm

Have you ever watched one of the many high end cooking programs on TV where the 5 star (or whatever) expert chef places the food on the plate. He then continues to arrange it so it's pleasing to the eye.

ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THESE "EXPERT CHEFS" USE GLOVES :shock:

And I'm talking of the thin plastic throwaway one's that cost a cent or two each, nothing more than that.

So is it any wonder to anyone with half a brain that people that watch these shows will do the same, and some of them aren't exactly hygienic.

Tassie_Stamps · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 21:33:13 pm

5 * Chef's in restaurants wash their hands before they handle food. It may not be shown on TV, but it often does occur.

For some reason 99% of the public think that the only way to handle food safely is with gloves.

Wrong, wrong and wrong. :mrgreen:

I don't know how many restaurants have been shut down after staff have not handled food with gloves and 1000's of people have gotten sick as a result of this during the past 10 years, I have not heard of any. :mrgreen:

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 22:15:13 pm

Tassie you missed my point entirely.

I would expect that most chefs would be very clean indeed that's the way they would have been trained.

What about the idiots that watch these shows and aren't particularly clean.

And let's not forget that the human body is, in general, pretty tough when it comes to eating dodgy food or food not prepared hygenically, so most cases just aren't reported to the authorities. The only cases that seem to make the papers are when a restaurant or take away place is closed down and some people die.

Tassie_Stamps · **Posted:** Sun Feb 19, 2012 22:31:03 pm

Agree.

mrboggler · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 08:13:12 am

A little dirt does you good, :wink:

vikingeck · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 08:41:54 am

Do you not get irritated like I do with these TV adds that tell us "XXX spray or wipe kills 99.9% of bacteria" ?

Lordy, with a doubling rate of about every 20 minutes, that surviving 0.1% can become a heck of pile of " RESISTANT" bacteria in 24 hours :evil:

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 08:57:31 am

vikingeck wrote:

Do you not get irritated like I do with these TV adds that tell us "XXX spray or wipe kills 99.9% of bacteria" ?

Lordy, with a doubling rate of about every 20 minutes, that surviving 0.1% can become a heck of pile of " RESISTANT" bacteria in 24 hours :evil:

Even more than that, the 0.1% is what you really need to get rid of because it's pretty well resistant to just about everything, it laughs at penicillin :shock:

Allanswood · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:08:12 am

We don't use any of those wipes or 99.9% stuff. If anything it's vinegar or just hot water and then dry the area.

If I wipe my bench with a paper towel and soapy water or vinegar solution and make sure it is then dry then I have killed 99.89% of all germs anyway.

99.9% of germs don't harm you anyway! Crumbs, we are probably 50% bugs anyway just being a human. :lol:

Actually for most "normal" people you need to be exposed to the average germ anyway and resist them as that's a key part of your immune system. Otherwise everything makes you sick.

As for handling food with fingers its all a matter of trust and hygeine. If a chef's hands are clean then there is no problem. But if as in the OP someone sneezes or runs their fingers throught their hair while serving prepared food, then yes you'd better wash your hands or else!

The biggest single danger is food lying around for too long at the wrong temperature and the bugs (that are always there anyway!) breed up to a toxic level before you eat it.

I think people in general are encouraged to be far too paranoid about it. Keeps food suppliers and bug wipe manufacturers in business!

fromdownunder · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 15:02:02 pm

I shudder to think about how I prepare and cook my own meals. I probably should have been dead 20 years ago. Although I admit I am very careful with chicken and pork.

After all, with chicken, and as so eloquently stated by Gordon Ramsay, when commenting on one of his Hell's Kitchen Chefs serving undercooked chicken:

Quote:

Your'e going to (This Word Auto Censored by Board software!) kill someone

Norm

Catweazle · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 15:10:39 pm

I never use gloves in the kitchen. Most of the time I wash my hands before, except on the odd occasion when I know they're pretty clean anyway, and I'm only making myself a peanut butter and jammy sandwhich, not baking a cake.

Remember those two fat ladies, who mixed and mashed complete with nail polish, rings and so on? :lol:

Tassie_Stamps · **Posted:** Mon Feb 20, 2012 15:40:17 pm

Haha Norm,

You just reminded me of another hilarious scene on Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen a few years ago.

When asked to each disect a raw chicken, many of the contestants did a terrible job... one was so bad, Ramsay asked

Did you F..K the Chicken?

I laughed out loud. :lol: