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.

Nothing sold uncovered from Lidil goes in my mouth.

It's the same in lots of places - I wouldn't buy unwrapped bread etc. before Covid, there's no way I'd buy it now !!

Don't know about elsewhere, but at least my local Lidl has the stuff inside a big plastic cabinet, so anyone concerned can reach for the stuff at the back.
In M&S it's displayed in completely open baskets on top of a counter, and that's a bit "Hmmm" even for me

In my lidl they did bag them all individually through the pandemic which was much nicer.

Don't get the arguments that it's the same as a normal bakery - there's a huge difference between 1 or 2 people behind the counter who should be wearing gloves and have been trained in food hygiene being able to handle food (almost always with scoops), handing over 1 item which is then immediately paid for by the purchaser, and any member of the public being able to cough all over them, stick their bare dirty hands in, rumage around, pick something up and wander around the shop with it then change their minds and put it back!

After getting food poisoning after eating some mexican rice from an open salad counter I don’t buy those salads anymore or anything that hasn’t been wrapped other than fruit & veg that can be washed. There used to be bags for bread that were one side paper with a cellophane type top.
I’ve seen ppl sneezing near or over uncovered food too often. And so many pple dont wash their hands after a loo visit - you hear the cubicle door bang then the main door a couple seconds later, its obvious no handwash took place.

I am willing to risk any germ or hygiene issue for a lidl toffee yum yum.

It's not just unwrapped goods that get meddled with. though. I once saw a respectable looking man in Tesco unscrew a bottle of juice, taste it and then put it back on the shelf. When I handed it to an assistant to remove from sale, she said he'd been asking her what it tasted like.

Do Lidl not have tongs with which to pick up the products ? Our Morrisons has similar open shelves for individual baked goods but there are plastic bags and tongs, and a clear sign asking people not to handle items without using them.

Don’t they have this everywhere though? Bread rolls in Morrisons, fruit in all supermarkets ect.??

Totally agree there are manky people everywhere. I don't buy loose food that can't be washed.

I was totally put of after watching a man hold a batch of rolls to his chest while ripping off the ones he wanted. The ones that had been squeezed between his arm and chest were put back on the shelf. Minging

now that is gross he should have been forced to pay for it

Time they introduced a ‘you unwrap/unscrew/sample it, you’ve bought it’ policy !! I also hate people fondling the individual fruit and veg. I once watched a woman squeeze a grapefruit all the way round and put it right up to her nose to sniff it and then put it back and walk away !!

I avoid supermarket salad bars like the plague since seeing a woman giving her little boy a taste of something off the spoon and then putting it back into the serving dish. Disgusting.

Do Lidl not have tongs with which to pick up the products ?

They do, yes, but as with tongs everywhere it's no guarantee that people will use them

My own personal worst was seeing a child of about nine pick up a pastry (and sorry Fatkittythinkitty but it was indeed a tiffee yum yum!!) chew a piece off it and put it back at his mum's instruction

I think the potential to get ill from this type of food is minimal. I buy a pastry from Lidl every day and have never suffered any ill effects.

Yuk. See my post above, equally as disgusting.

Yes I saw your post, DotAndCarryOne2 - probably not the wisest move as I'm just about to eat my lunch!!

Waitrose does the same on the fresh bread counter, as do M&S and COOP. Good to reduce the amount of plastic, and the bakery stuff is fresher (albeit cooked from frozen probably) that pre packed stuff that’s been made in a factory on an industrial park just off a motorway somewhere, by someone paid minimum wage and half way through their third 12 hour shift of the week…

Our local supermarket puts all their cakes out uncovered, stacked on tables. I changed my mind when I seen a little guy standing there licking the edges of all the doughnuts.

Course they do.

But nothing short of individually shrink wrapped in several layers of single-use plastic is good enough for the germaphobes.

they are behind plastic doors, in enclosed boxes. see through of course

I never bought and never will buy anything that's left out unwrapped such as bread and pastries. It's not unique to Lidl though.

There was a lovely coffee shop near where I last worked but I couldn't bear to buy their scones or pastries because they were left out on display, uncovered. 🤢

This is the same for many things though, packaging or no packaging.

You pick up a loaf of bread (wrapped), that has been breathed on/touched. You then (cause you don't think of it as dirty) put it in your basket without a second thought. You get home, maybe you wash your hands, then you empty the shopping bag and get the loaf of bread out, transferring anything that's on the outside of that wrapper onto your hands. Then you make a sandwich with your 'clean' hands and transfer whatever was on the outside of the wrapper to the bread you eat.

Sure wrapped food isn't as exposed as unwrapped, but I think you're worrying disproportionately about the risk.

Take the ones from the back (that's what I do) or avoid it altogether.

As an aside... public toilets. You leave the stall, wash your hands and then open the door to leave... The same door that has been touched by many people who don't wash their hands. I will actively avoid touching anything in a public toilet after washing my hands and have multiple tactics to minimise contact with them.

So we’ve all seen someone drop a bread roll then put it back in yeah? 😱

@Curiosity101

I will actively avoid touching anything in a public toilet after washing my hands and have multiple tactics to minimise contact with them.

You do realise that the filthy animals, who don't wash their hands also do that, don't you?