How safe are takeaways ?have you had one?

[borislovesme]

I normally love a takeaway but I haven't ordered in a month now.
Have you still been ordering ?
And are they safe?

[Nachonacho]

I haven't! I guess fear is stopping Me from ordering one, working in the food industry myself I'm worried the correct precautions aren't in place during preparation Plenty of friends have them weekly though!

[borislovesme]

Well what's stopping me is a friends mum and dad work for a well known chain restaurant who are doing deliveries ..
And she's said whatever you do don't order.
So that's put me right off.

[hammeringinmyhead]

I haven't either. I might have risked it but DH won't and I get it - there's no point if you're peering into it and wondering if it's been touched or coughed on.

[YouAndMeAndTheDevilMakesThree]

Very few takeaways are open round my way, but we've had a couple. No idea how safe they are, but they are doing no-contact delivery (i.e. leave on doorstep). The food is always piping hot and were careful with the packaging so I can't see that the risk is very high.

[peachypetite]

No, absolutely not.

[polkadotpixie]

Yeah we've had 3 or 4, no issues

[Chocolateconcretepinkcustard]

I've had loads

[AmelieTaylor]

I think contactless delivery, tipping the food into your own plates, throwing packaging and washing your hands before eating & possibly heating the food to piping hot might just make it pretty low risk, but a)I'm not prepared to take any risk for takeaway food & b) seems far too much faff c) I wouldn't enjoy it as I'd be too worried about it.

[SophieB100]

We have one a week as usual. Have no concerns about it at all. Too many lovely things and occasions are on hold, my Friday night curry treat isn't going to be one of them!

[Grufallosfriends]

No. Why take the risk? It takes just one person not washing their hands or coughing on it?

[TheLovelinessOfDemons]

We had breakfast via Uber Eats yesterday. We have a tradition of a McDonald's breakfast the day before school starts back, and I didn't want to disappoint the DC. The food was piping hot, so I'd assume that it was safe.

[Zampa]

We've ordered three times, from different local restaurants. I always chose places with high hygiene ratings before this and still do.

Usual precautions on receiving delivery - ensuring hands are washed after unpacking it and before eating.

The concern is always what risk the staff are at and whether they're willing to be in work or forced to be there. That's an individual decision and I don't believe there's a right or wrong answer.

[Bluebelle24]

The food itself seems to be low risk, I think it’s more the contact, containers, etc. I don’t think I’d risk it if I were vulnerable but wouldn’t be as worried if I was fairly healthy and low risk otherwise.

[Grobagsforever]

Yes at least weekly as I want to support our favourite local restaurants and I'm SO BORED of constant food prep.

There's no risk. Empty the food onto a plate and wash your hands, use cutlery. Even if enough virus was present on food AND hadn't decayed too much to give you the virus, you have this wonderful thing called stomach acid which will kill it. The virus has to get into your respiratory system not your stomach!!

[okiedokieme]

They ring the bell then leave in on the doorstep. Obviously if you are shielding then perhaps it's too risky because you can't guarantee who touched the containers but for most people who don't quarantine their shopping it's no different to online shopping

[Grufallosfriends]

Should the cooks, other employees and delivery people really be working? It's not exactly an essential business?

[Grobagsforever]

@zampa - how would they 'force' the staff to be there? Despite what some Mumsnetters seem to currently wish, we are not yet living in a police state. I imagine the employees want the money to you know, pay their bills.

[poshme]

Grufallosfriends why shouldn't they be working? Government guidance is that people can keep working if they can social distance.

[Pluckedpencil]

Go read about typhoid Mary and then come back with a decision

[user1493413286]

Yep has 3 or so and it’s been fine.

[Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse]

No, not worth the risk as one of us is shielding. I even leave the post or any parcels 72 hours before opening.

[PineappleDanish]

Of course they're safe. We've had two deliveries in the last month, Indian and pizza. Both trusted local places we've used before, good hygiene standards. They ring the bell and leave the food on the doorstep.

You'll get people telling you that it's a risk, that you have to wipe everything down with bleach, quarantine it, decant it into other containers, microwave it for 30 minutes. But the risk of picking up Covid 19 from a pizza box or directly from food is so vanishingly small that it's really not worth even giving headspace to.

The chicken saag was amazing.

[user1493413286]

Imo they’d be closed if they were particularly high risk

[goshdarnitjanet]

I have no issues with safety of takeaways however I haven't had one as it just seems such a faff at the moment. Most local takeaways are only open on the weekend and it appears the world and its dog are ordering them. You have to either phone up and order and book a slot for collection or wait hours for delivery, our local Chinese apparently stopped taking orders by 6pm on Saturday as they had so many.
I am waiting until things get back to a semblance of normality and I can pop down to my local chippy or Chinese takeaway and order as normal.

[Scruffyoak]

Weve had a few. Paid on phone and then they dropped on doorstep. We did get a kebab who insisted on cash though...