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 did say I wouldn't apply this to bakery goods.

Our local M&S also has all the bakery goods out in the open, but I notice they don't come in for criticism. Co-op is even worse, they slide out in a tray just above floor height for the bottom row, so you can't help but crouch over them.
Not that it worries me. The only thing I won't touch is salad bars, all the kids in our local Morrisons would eat off the spoons and parents would let them.

I really want one of their sour doughs now... And a brownie...

Small bakeries have always sold like this, still do. They cover stick with damp clothes at night. Don’t see the problem.

”Middle of the pandemic”. Really, where are you?

I think the LIDL bakery is great 🤷‍♀️

Stock

It is disgusting. Think about how many people don’t wash their hands after the toilet. These same people will cough over, touch, and sneeze over the pastries. There is a lack of hygiene that seems quite common so I don’t buy anything that isn’t covered.

Baked goods don’t need to be wrapped in plastic. Just sheltered from the masses behind a screen that can be lifted up. Fairly simple solution.

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

😂😂

Fuck me I’m hungry now.

I did see that after I’d posted. Can I blame my toddler reaching for the nappy cream messing with my comprehension skills? 😁

I’ve been called uptight in the past but yes, salad bars are grim.

I’ve also not been to a buffet place in years since I went to Jimmy Spice in Birmingham and there were children running round just trying stuff from serving spoons.

I would probably pounce on lIdl bakery items if they were just sliding a fresh tray from the oven in and no one else had gone near it.

It the same as other supermarkets? Would rather that then loads of plastic wrapping leaching chemicals into the food

So when you reach to the back, the sleeve of your coat, etc is then perilously dangling over the baked goods at the front and, dare I say it, might contaminate them?

Meh. Can't be bothered. Maybe this is why I'm so healthy. I didn't disinfect my groceries in lockdown too.

I saw it recently in Costa.

Do you get loose rolls in England that are sort of joined together, like they have just come of a big baking tray?

I have never bought any loose products since I watched a man hold a batch of rolls against his winter jacket - rip off the ones he wanted and put the rest back on the shelf. Disgusting 🫣 🤮

I also won't eat from salad bars or buffets. I've watched people in general enough.

Sorry about your dad.

I’ve bought croissants and their pizza slices from there - as long as you use their tongs and bags I can’t see an issue with hygiene.

In some stores (the Tottenham Court Road one near where I used to work) it was very busy in the morning before 9am but then you just grab and go.

I have a lovely local deli that has sourdough and pastries out on a table. There are tongs and paper bags for self service. It's never crossed my mind that there might be a problem. How on earth am I not dead from people's breath/coat sleeves?

Aldi does exactly the same

Don’t go near farm storage then. Dh used to work on a farm and said there were always rats running over the apples which where in cold storage.

I must admit though, I recently purchased a sourdough loaf from M&S. I popped it into the paper bag provided but didn’t realised the little paper band wrapped around the loaf had a bar code on. The lad at the checkout had to pull out the loaf with his hands in order to scan the barcode. Did kind of put me off as I kept thinking about where is hands may have been (I have a 17 year old ds so know they are often adverse to a bit of simple hand washing!).

It's not you, you need to worry about, it's the person who was there before you, who used their manky fingers!

Ah but that’s a deli with naice customers obviously not the great unwashed that Lidl attracts!

I also do t like it when I see people licking their hands to open the plastic bags then going in with that same hand to fish out whatever it is they are purchasing especially if they put it back.

As people said you get this anywhere

It isn't odd, unfortunately. Most supermarkets and the like (M&S for example) do this. I guess that means they don't want my custom, as I will never buy anything that's been exposed to the public that way after seeing a small child licking each one of the various pastries that were on display at M&S.

I completely agree OP. If it’s been sitting out on a shelf uncovered all day there’s no guarantee that it hasn’t been talked and coughed over, picked up and put back etc…
Similar situation in coffee shops. Very off putting to see food next to the till being talked over by everyone being served. Whatever used to land on those grubby plastic screens during the pandemic is now landing on the food.