AIBU to suggests cafes should have to cover their food?

[hoven]

There's a cafe in my local park that I go to with my dc.

They sell lovely cakes and usually have around 5 an the counter.

However I hardly ever end up buying them as they are left uncovered.

AIBU to suggest every food establishment should cover the food they are selling?

If anyone knows if I can report to the food standards agency please let me know

Whether they should be covered or not is one thing .reporting a buisness in these times to go out of ur way to do it .have you not got better things to do .get a life.dont buy the cakes move on

YANBU, it is gross. But YABVVU to report. Might I suggest you get a life 😁

I totally understand where you are coming from. I went to a lovely artisan bakery today, they had lovely sandwiches and ciabatta sandwiches on show with cakes, but the flies were all over them. They were in a glass counter but it wasn’t sealed. So couldn’t bring myself to buy one even though they looked delicious. I went to a shop over the road and there sandwiches and pies were displayed differently and no flies, so ended up buying there.

When people buy, do they give from the displayed cakes? There’s a coffee shop close to me that has an uncovered display but they never sell from it (I’ve tried to convince them as I was craving one of their cakes and they refused to sell from display)

I don't buy uncovered food. I have seen flies land on cakes etc. it seems common sense to have them under cover.

Possibly the most nuts post I've read on here. And that's saying something.

yes but the fact we can smell them means there are particles in the air. It's the poo particles we are smelling there is no such thing as fart

Solid gold. This is why I love Mumsnet. Please, please write in to a science journal with this revelation and keep us all posted. I’m sure they would be well pleased to receive this and their lunch room will never have been so jolly.

I wouldn’t touch those cakes either, but due to people coughing, sneezing on them, toddlers snotty hands touching them, flies. No thanks. But, poo particles from farts, would never have thought of that one🤣.

Get on to Michael Jackson's people. See if they still have that big bubble yolk he used to sleep in. Ask them can you borrow it and roll yourself and the family to the park.

I am fairly sure that the open displays do have poo particles but it is more likely to come from people's hands due to infrequent washing, touching escalators and handles in public places and also from British toileting norms.

I am sure of course you bring your own cup and spoon in case anyone farted near them and poo particles landed on them. It's a scary world out there with the flying invisible shit from people blowing off! You can't be too careful OP!

It's been a couple of years since I did my level 3 food hygiene course, and we don't have food out on display at my workplace, but I don't think it's a specific legal requirement to have cakes covered, though sneeze guards are recommended. There's a local bakery with a 5* food hygiene rating that don't cover their wares at the farmers market but the goods at the farmers market are only on display for max 4 hours and are disposed of if not sold.

It is, however, good practice and an easy way to show environmental health that you're preventing contamination by flies, sneezing, children prodding them etc. It's also going to make the cakes last longer. I'd expect the EHO to question them on it during an inspection - I've certainly been questioned on much smaller matters. If that were my own cafe I'd have glass cake domes over them.

For my own personal consumption I'd draw a significant distinction between uncovered cakes on a rear counter where customers can't access them, and cakes on a front counter.

It beggars belief that somebody could catch sight of a half-stale old bun that has been sitting by the till for five hours and feel more compelled to buy it : "I must have that virus-ridden, sneeze and feces contaminated overpriced thing inside my stomach right now!"

This in a nutshell.

There's really not much that can go wrong with fresh fruit and veg. The supermarket will advise you wash it or peel it depending on the item, and most things get cooked which will kill off remaining pathogens.

Regardless of where it has come from, it's been say outside in a field where birds can shit on it, slugs can walk over it, the rain falls on it and so on.

Buying fresh fruit and veg for home consumption is the last food item I'd be concerned about from a hygiene point of view; there's so much more that can go wrong with other foods.

To all those mocking the OP. Uncovered good in a public area is bound to be contaminated from coughs, sneezes, even skin particles. If you want to eat said food be my guest. I choose, like the OP, to not eat them.

What do you hope to achieve by reporting? Cafe could get shut down, have to make other changes they can’t cope with and then close altogether anyway 🤔

Our local Lidl has uncovered bakery products and I once pointed out that there were multiple flies sitting on the doughnuts. The assistant's response was to basically shoo them away.I asked was she not going to throw the doughnuts out and she did throw out the closest doughnut.Being a pain in the ass, I pointed out that flies had been on all of them.I sent pictures to their head office but no response.
Vote with your feet, just don't purchase from them and it would be really useful to give feedback.

The café is not going to get shut down unless they have other really serious food hygiene issues going on - you actually have to be worse than a 0 out of 5 rating to get shut down.

A complaint is more likely to trigger an inspection if they haven't had one lately. I had someone complain about my workplace to environmental health. It triggered an inspection (we were overdue anyway) and we got a 5.

There's currently a huge backlog of food hygiene inspections, which can cause issues for newer food businesses (and those which have changed ownership etc) which are awaiting rating. Some businesses wait years for a first inspection. I've heard (possibly apocryphal, but entirely plausible) stories of people submitting an anonymous complaint about their own business to environmental health to trigger a first inspection.

To all those mocking the OP. Uncovered good in a public area is bound to be contaminated from coughs, sneezes, even skin particles. If you want to eat said food be my guest. I choose, like the OP, to not eat them

The issue with the OP (the fart bit put aside), is that they are not just choosing not to eat the cakes. That’s what I would do, and what ‘normal’ people do. If you don’t like it, no problem, don’t buy/eat it, no one is forcing you. Instead, OP is throwing a tantrum and wanting someone to make them do things differently. Why? Just don’t buy the cakes. That’s why OP is getting the stick.

@HoppingPavlova

Living in the UK I would like us to have access to hygienic food establishments for ourselves and our children.

Other poster have suggested there has been research to show viruses can be transmitted and grow through uncovered food.

The simple practice of covering cake up with a glass dome would mitigate this risk substantially.

I have reported so the relevant agencies can assess the hygiene Standards of this premises. I believe a fair investigation will be carried out and if inspectors think it is bad enough to close down (less than a 0 rating) it will. Otherwise there will be recommendations given.

I also hope this report will prompt the fsa to consider this a legal requirement to ensure the safety of the public.

If you like you can campaign to keep your germy cakes, however I prefer cleanliness for myself and children

I'd think about flies, people coughing or sneezing near cakes, or touching them.....its never once occurred to me about people farting near cakes.

I've done (most of) a food hygeine course and at home would try to stick to most of it, but in reality there are a lot of instances where standards are less than ideal. (If you ever got an ice cream, the ice cream man might not wash his hands between serving and taking cash for example) Some people will be willing to take their chances, some won't.

I hope you at least have the decency to stay away from this cafe then, and not be a massive hypocrit by continuing to use it.

@hoven which bit don’t you understand. I also wouldn’t touch the cakes. That’s not the issue. It’s your over the top hysteria that’s the issue. A typical person would just NOT BUY THE CAKE. Then you and your family won’t get sick. Problem solved. That’s what normal people do if they think food is ‘suss’, just don’t buy and eat it ffs. Having a massive tanty and going on a crusade when you simply have the choice not to buy the freakin cakes is just …… odd. But fine, you save the UK for people who can otherwise deal with these situations just fine (by simply using judgement, not buying those cakes and not causing a fuss).

@HoppingPavlova I do it for the greater good and for people like you who are so despondent and lack capacity to advocate change

Sure, crack on. I’m sure your one complaint will implement sweeping change and complete reform in regards to the storage of cake across the UK.

The rest of us will just crack on with ground roots reform by voting with our feet. It’s called giving our business to people we are happy with, not those where we are not.

It’s also about making choices as a functional adult and taking responsibility for yourself, such as not buying/eating dodgy cake, as opposed to asking different levels of government to make these decisions on our behalf.