To think that people that don't use the tongs at the supermarket bakery...

[Sparklingbrook]

Should receive a £1000 on the spot fine and banned from the store for life?

I'm certain I caught food poisoning from those pastries once. Even if I really fancy a cinnamon whirl every now and then, I can't bring myself to eat anything from that section now!

What about the people who lick their fingers, open the bag, pick up the tongs and then make their selection? Then replace the tongs.

mmm...staphylococcus aureus anyone?

Totos ....number twos lol!

I do pick them up with my hands if I can pick it up and not brush any of the other ones. Ds does love to poke them no matter how much I tell him no.

I saw a girl (around 19 I'd say) yesterday EATING OFF EACH ONE I did say, you know these aren't free and you need to buy them? Her reply was, 'How do I know which one tastes nicest without trying?' 'You just buy what looks nice or go there regularly and try every one on a rotational basis.'

Anyway, she left with one(!) and I had to tell the staff. They didn't look impressed.

BTW, I can't use the tongs because there's only 2 nowhere near the ones I buy, so I tend to pick up the one that isn't touching others, or I can pick up without touching others.

I don't care about tongs. I truly don't People are filthy, you take your chances just going into a supermarket with them.

Our local bakery has all the stuff behind the counter and you point and ask. They pick them up using tongs or their gloved hands. Much more pleasing. And the real problem is avoided. Those touchy fuckers who just can't help squeezing and fondling baked goods. They go along the row of packaged, papered sliced granaries squeezing and fondling and warping your bread for you. Bastards the lot of them.

What about bowls of mints by restaurant exits?
All those people who haven't washed their hands after going to the toilet........

Oh yes, never eat those-ever MrsD.

I was in costa yesterday and really wanted a sticky toffee muffin. Then while I was in the queue I watched a fly make its way round every single pastry sat out. I went for a packaged brownie instead :) I hate people touching food too

YANBU - hate that! Especially when they let their toddler (covered in dirt and snot) do it - it's rank!

I know and have you heard them sneezing all over the place? I make a run for the door when they start cos once one does it they are seem to start up it's like green for go.

I have a ridiculously cast iron stomach for disgusting things but a while ago my entire soul boaked when I observed a man in the bakery section of Tesco lifting up pastries with his hands, putting them right up to his nose, giving them an almighty sniff then putting them back. Fucking well putting them back after he'd practically inserted them into his hairy, bogey raddled nostril.
I tutted him with in an inch of his filthy life. I'm sure he will never do it again...

I work in a farm shop and we always have a selection of fresh bread and cakes on the counter - I have to stop myself from swatting people hands when they touch them...my DD knows not to and shes 2!

I never buy anything from the help yourself selection for this very reason. All those people poking and prodding and snivelling over food they have no intention of buying I saw a man sifting through a pile of rolls with his hands before making his selection, quite what he was hoping to find amongst 20 identical crusty white rolls i'm not sure!

I only buy the fresh ones which have been pre-bagged, or the ones behind a glass counter where the staff retrieve them for you.

It's simple. Take plastic bag. Put hand in bag. Pick up pastry or pastries. invert bag over hand leaving pastry inside bag. No touching, no tongs, no problem!
Pastries not sitting right in the sneeze zone are probably better. But you can always heat them up in the oven ... should mostly handle it.

The bags at Lidl are those paper ones with a window in, so you can't do the bag trick.

and BoozyBear, sorry to hear about your throat!
But ... could just be some of the natural bacteria (many of us carry pneumo and strep around usually with no problem, for example; they are called commensal bacteria and there are many kinds) invading as a one-off; you might have had it for a while and only just had problems!

Flies crawling all over the bread in the local Tesco metro did put me off more than my fellow customers' grubby mitts.

Now I live practically across the road from a bread factory. It's fabulous.

I never touch tongs, but I never touch a pastry or piece of bread unless I am buying it.

I think its gross if you handle them without intending to buy them. I don't use the tongs but that is because they have been used for all the bloody cakes. I put my hand in the plastic bag, pick up what I want and then turn bag over.

I would never use the tongs, I don't know who else has touched them!
I put a plastic bag over my hand then pick up one from the back.