LIDL bakery counter - I don't understand!

[BeachBlondey]

Is this not the most unhygienic way to sell bread and pastries? With no wrappers on and sitting in the open air. People breath all over the stuff and can handle it without buying. Even in the middle of the pandemic, the food had no covers on. And doesn't it go stale quicker, just sitting there with no packaging? I'm not a germaphobe my any means, but it always seems a bit....ODD.

I don’t buy bread from Borough Market because of the pigeons. But am happy to buy unwrapped bread from pigeon free shops.

Public transport is absolutely disgusting too. I sat behind a woman who was picking her nose and flicking boogies. She then proceeded to press the STOP button with that same index finger. People who smell terrible, dirty clothes, unwashed dirty hands, spillages and urine leaks., coughing without opening cover mouth, sneezing and then touching the handles and poles. In the morning it's a nauseating mixture of extra minty chewing gum, stale booze smell, overpowering aftershaves and greasy hair/dried shampoo smell. Awful awful awful. Trying to live environmentally friendly leaves you green in other ways.

I am the same op, in our local Lidl there will be flys all over the baked goods especially during the summer, I don't understand why they can't put a screen on each section that you can lift up (like a pick and mix display.

In regards to previous posters, fruit and vegetables are different because you wash them. You can't wash a loaf of bread or a chocolate donut can you

Also it's creating food waste.

Last time I was in waitrose, even they had loose bread. And they were more open than the bakery shelves I've seen in Lidl.

I wonder if it is loose bakery goods that the OP objects to, or that she thinks Lidl customers are more unhygienic??

Out lidl bakery is the same - the first time I went there was a couple of flies that kept landing on the bread/cakes and I have never been able to stomach the idea of it since 🤢

During the pandemic every Lidl I know of only sold items prepacked as multiples already wrapped. And ours have plastic covers you have to open to take stuff out.

I don't see a problem.

Last week a woman was cutting her nails on the bus, nail clippings flying around. Had a bearded man comb his beard on the bus. It's disgusting I feel I need a shower and change of clothes when I use public transport. People chain smoking to the last second before getting on the bus.... there is so much filth out there.

You'd freak at the Waitrose I get breakfast at before work - pastries are just piled in large baskets out in the open. Meanwhile, all us normal people just grab what we want, stick it in the bag and move on with out lives.

For “bakery ” please also see “pick n mix sweets”, “buffet”, “help yourself” 😂😂

When I was young, we’d all stand in line in the butchers next to the carcasses hanging on hooks behind us and with sawdust on the floor. No-one thought a thing about it.

I’ve seen people pick up things and sniff with their nose almost touching 🤢

There was an insane thread about fruit and veg a good while ago. People had no comprehension that you can tell ripeness by touch and smell. Obviously I wouldn't apply this to bakery goods, but we have become so removed from the natural environment and so many have no comprehension about food.

I agree OP. I don't want food that people have coughed over and touched. The tongs are often minging too.

Our Lidl has the bread behind a Perspex barrier, and you need to use attached long tongs to move it out onto a side area, then slide it into a paper bag.

There's no easy way to reach in and handle the bread or pastries. It's fiddly, but hygenic.

Love the Lidl bakery.

Hate places like Asda/Tesco where they sell single croissants or pastries in plastic boxes.

I have managed to get to the age of 50 without worrying about people breathing on baked goods.

I don’t want to buy something that someone almost rubbed their nose on though.

A tomato, I can wash.

A slice of pizza? No. And you you don’t need to tell if a pastry is ripe but prodding and sniffing it.

Salad bars are notorious for what you find when you test them. I used to work (briefly as it was a horrible job) in the local authority lab where trading standards and environmental health brought things to be tested and you don't want to know what was in the salad bars. Same issues with the serve yourself carveries. People with dirty hands using the tongs/spoons and then they go back in serving dishes.

I avoid using the tongs in the bakeries, I'm very careful to only touch the bread/cake I'm buying but I've never seen used tongs being removed for cleaning and new ones put out so how many people have handled them, how many of them hadn't washed their hands after using the toilet? No thanks I know my hands are clean so I'll use them.

It is little wonder we needed lessons on handwashing during the pandemic, it is an art lots of people don't seem to have mastered.

I don't understand comparisons to meat - which you will cook - or fruit and veg, which you will wash and possibly cook. Touch it, sell it over sawdust, let people breath on it. You will be taking steps to minimise contamination before you eat it.

That croissant is going straight into my mouth. (Now I want a croissant. Damn this thread.)

You're aware that your body is full of germs and bacteria, right? You cannot escape it. Stressing about people breathing near food is unorthodox.

But you cook meat at a high temperature.

A donut that some dirty sod who had just picked their nose and licked their fingers and probably didn’t wash their hands after they wiped their arse has just prodded and picked up will have their germs and grossness on it still.

Exactly

Back in the 1970s, sandwiches were left on a shelf with a brown bag to place one in if you wanted to buy it.

NO wrapping
NO refrigeration

Tried in vain to upload an image but its in the wrong format whatever that means.

If you saw/smelt the unwashed pig farmers and cannabis reeking shoplifters that frequent our local Lidl you may tend to agree 😂

Marks and Spencers beside me is like this. I really like the look of the bread but no way will I buy it. I've seen filthy disgusting people cough and splutter beside the bread. No thank you. It's such a backward step.

Im not keen on the idea esp watching the two men differ about what they wanted, while one proceeded to cough all over and not cover mouth , which even before covid is just basic manners not to be spitting your germs all over open food but Ds loves the croissants, so I take the the ones right at the back.
We’re guilty of the odd md’s and the amount of hands on those burgers gets me worse then the Lidl bakery. Just can’t give it to much thought.

You were lucky, we used to dream of standing in blood soaked sawdust. 🙁

The choice isn't everything wrapped or everything open for all customers to touch. I tend to avoid the sort of setup the op is talking about but don't mind unwrapped stuff that only the staff touch