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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Re Ice Cream?

132 replies

WTAFF · 03/04/2016 15:38

I'm after some advice from you all. I went for an ice cream today and ordered a cornet with a flake.

The woman behind the counter took payment from me and then after handling the money grabbed the cornet, filled it with ice cream and then stuck a flake in the cornet with her bare hands. The only part she didn't touch with her unwashed hands was the ice cream!

This is in a place with a 5* hygiene rating. Surely this can't be normal?

I have severe germ phobic tendencies (OCD) so this may be clouding my judgement. I didn't say anything in case I was being unreasonable but next time I think I might try another ice cream place!

WIBU?

OP posts:
zoemaguire · 03/04/2016 20:53

Fine, if you say so, it's poor food handling practice. I have no knowledge of that. But it doesn't change the indisputable fact that the OP is exceedingly unlikely to get ill from handling a touched ice-cream cone. And in the context of germ phobia, that is the much more important point to ram home.

LifeofI · 03/04/2016 20:56

it is gross but as a kid i use to eat them with the ice cream man who probably scratched his ass before giving it to me

zoemaguire · 03/04/2016 20:56

"are you suggesting that we should we ditch all accepted hygiene rules"

Incidentally, that's the equivalent to the 'oh you think we should be like north korea then' argument to anybody suggesting some very tangentally left-wing idea. You don't, perhaps, think there might be some middle ground somewhere, especially given the OP's background? Something along the lines of 'well it's not ideal, but on the other hand...'

katkit · 03/04/2016 20:57

Health and safety inspectors would grumble about it but really, if you have ocd, why didn't you order a tub rather than a cone?

Birthgeek · 03/04/2016 21:00

OP only divulged her phobia to give context to her wondering if she was being OTT in questioning the poor practice she saw today.

The answer is, no - the practice was poor. Her phobia is irrelevant.

Her aibu wasn't "Shit! How likely is it that this will make me poorly?!"

On that I'd agree with you, that it's unlikely, but we know that cerrtain things reduce the risk and that's why they're in place Smile

And to BurningBridges yukko! Don't blame you!

Original poster
WTAFF · 03/04/2016 21:01

I didn't have enough money for a tub - even the smallest one was more expensive than the 99.

To be honest, it didn't cross my mind that my food would be directly handled.

Thank you everyone for your opinions. It is very difficult living with OCD.

OP posts:
Primaryteach87 · 03/04/2016 21:01

Birthgeek- okay I see what you mean. You have to wash your hands between activities to ensure they are clean clearly. The argument I was given was that gloves give a false sense of security and people have a tendency to forget that they transfer germs in just the same way as hands. So tend to change them less often than they would wash their hands. Hope that makes more sense.

Pipbin · 03/04/2016 21:09

I do see your point OP, but just think how many things you have touched before taking and eating the ice cream.

Let's imagine that you have got the bus to the park, possibly handling change , you will have touched the seat and rails in the bus. To cross the road you have to use a pedestrian crossing so you need to press the button. Then into the park possibly touching trees, benches, children's play equipment, may be even stopping to pet a dog. Then to the ice cream van. You get your purse out of your bag, drop it on the floor and pick it up before getting the change out.

The woman who works in the ice cream van will have gone into the frequently cleaned environment of the ice cream van and most likely cleaned her hands before starting work.

All that said I was in a bakery in the US last week where they used one shot pieces of grease proof paper to pick up bakery items. I thought that was a better idea than using gloves.

magicdave · 03/04/2016 21:10

I've been to an ice cream cone factory and was shocked that not everyone wore gloves to put the cones into boxes (these particular ones are hand packed, not by machine)

Some people on the line did wear gloves but others didn't feel comfortable in them and it wasn't enforced. It was VERY hot in there so sweaty hands/faces/touching things other than cones would be expected.

Just goes to show you really don't know the half of what goes on with your food before it's presented to you by a gloved hand, or in a napkin or not.....

mathanxiety · 03/04/2016 21:13

Primary 'You wash your hands after going to the loo and whenever you handle anything dirty....obviously'
The ice cream vendor did not wash her hands after handling money.
It is because there is nothing 'obvious' about basic hygiene for many people that there are regulations for commercial food handlers.

Pipbin · 03/04/2016 21:31

The ice cream vendor did not wash her hands after handling money.

People should wash their hands after every time they handle money? There aren't the hours in the day.

mathanxiety · 03/04/2016 21:35

Correct, so she should have used the money hand/food hand system. It's not rocket science and it's important to have an adequate hygiene procedure in place for commercial food handling.

WetLettuce123 · 03/04/2016 21:41

I wouldn't think that was an issue. Touching "dry" foods like a cornet cone won't transfer a significant amount of bacteria.

FrikkaDilla · 03/04/2016 22:38

It's disgusting. Money is absolutely filthy. Paper money especially but coins obviously too. In my profession I've come across people who have actually stashed rolled up notes up their arses. Once I found that out I started using credit cards whenever I could.

Whitecoconut · 03/04/2016 22:40

I agree with OP. I wouldn't eat the flake nor the cone. I always buy ice cream in tub from ice cream van so I don't need to waste the cone and I always wash my hands after handling money.

FrikkaDilla · 03/04/2016 22:41

I've just read the rest of the thread and am shocked at how skanky people are - or am I just fussy?

Xmasbaby11 · 03/04/2016 22:42

I would never notice this TBH.

snottagecheese · 03/04/2016 22:44

It wouldn't occur to me for one second that her handling the cone and the flake with her 'bare hands' was anything other than utterly normal. The world has gone insane in its obsession with germs and bacteria, and I am constantly astonished by people's preoccupation with 'hygiene' - washing towels on a 90-degree wash after one use, the poster on here a few months ago who was having palpitations because her DP had cut some cheese using the packet as a chopping board and she couldn't get over all the people who had touched the packet before she'd bought it, etc etc. The OP has OCD so I can understand why she had a problem with the situation, but really, the rest of us just have to stop all this nonsense. We (as in anyone, everyone) come into contact a hundred times a day with surfaces that other people have touched having wiped their nose/their bum/had a dog lick their hand and not washed their hands afterwards. It. Just. Happens. And only vanishingly rarely is this ever going to lead to any kind of infection, or whatever it is people are afraid of.

StealthPolarBear · 03/04/2016 22:47

YOU DIDN'T EAT THE FLAKE?
Do you still have it?

StealthPolarBear · 03/04/2016 22:47

The practical solution if you didn't have enough money for a tub is to treat the cone as a tub surely. Just cos it's there you don't have to eat it.

RebeccaCloud9 · 03/04/2016 23:03

OP did you wash your hands after giving her the money? If not, then I can't see your problem as the same 'money germs' would be transferred to the ice cream anyway when you took it from her. And there are probably plenty of other germs that would touch the ice cream/cone/flake at any point between production and consumption. But the likelihood of them being harmful enough to actually make anyone ill are small I imagine.

mathanxiety · 03/04/2016 23:58

It's completely different for a customer and for a person selling the food product, Rebecca. The food handler has to abide by the regulations. The customer can lick the ice cream off the floor of a bus if she wants to. She is only putting herself at risk.

The likelihood of food improperly handled by someone selling food making someone sick is why there are regulations. The regs are there because the risk is significant.

UrgentSchoolHelp · 04/04/2016 00:07

^ what mathanxiety said. It's not correct procedure and this would be highlighted in an inspection.

JassyAlconleigh · 04/04/2016 00:07

Has anyone ever died of 99 poisoning?

I think that all sounds perfectly normal. But then we have the 10-second rule here. Cast iron stomachs.

OP, I really don't think buying any food you haven't prepared yourself is a good plan. You're bound to be anxious. Just work around it. Or eat chips; I believe the high fat temperatures kill nasties.

DiscoGlitter · 04/04/2016 00:38

Oh good grief. This thread is bonkers. I'm sure we all ate and loved ice cream cones when we were little, right?!
We're all still here presumably seeing as we're able to hyperventilate at ice cream germs OMG in 2016.
I bought an ice cream for my two kids this week from an ice cream van. Complete with flake and cone. I honestly didn't even notice if the seller was wearing gloves. It wouldn't have even have occurred to look.
They're not going to die from an ice cream cone. Come on.

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