Touching items in supermarket bakery with your hands

[37anddone]

I think almost every time I have tried to use the 'fresh bakery' in the supermarket (you know, all the breads and whatnot out for you to pick from) - someone has come over and started moving them around with their bare hands.

Not picking one up to take (questionable but tolerable), actually moving items on top out of the way to get the item they want. Customers this is, not the staff.

YABU - why not, you'd do it in the fruit and veg aisle

YANBU - bad manners

I won't eat such bakery products. m&s have some lovely looking bread loaves with a small bit of paper wrapped round the middle and they're on a table in the middle of the shop with everyone brushing past. No way.

Lidl bakery last time I looked the trays always look grubby and I've seen big bluebottles on the food before.

And yes people will be disgusting enough to paw at stuff with unwashed hands and potentially sneeze/cough over stuff.

You can wash fruit and veg, that's the difference

This is exactly why I don’t buy anything that’s not packaged. Think about all the coughs and sneezes landing on them as well, gross 🤮

Nope won’t touch them. Though when I was in Finland on holiday I did as their hygiene was very high. However in Germany and Italy it was the opposite not even any tongs to use.

It gives me pause too.

I usually have all my groceries delivered so am not often in physical supermarkets - but if I find myself in M&S it is frustrating to see all the lovely looking bread piled up uncovered. Not just other people’s unwashed hands, but their coats brushing over the loaves. Or their toddlers patting them. Not just moving things about but coughing over them, maybe dropping them on the floor and putting them back …

🥴🤢🤮

Sorry but this has made me laugh as I have remembered a few weeks ago when I picked up a half baguette in one of those paper sleeves in M&S and managed to let it slide out onto the floor. Whipped it up quickly following the five second rule and went and paid for it.......and I AM NOT DEAD! I appreciate its not ideal to have small children man handling fresh food, but that is a parenting issue for me rather than a hygiene one. A few germs are good for the immune system :)

I was in Sainsbury's a while back and was going to get some rolls. A well dressed woman was ahead and she picked every single one up, squeezed them, then put them back. I was disgusted. Another woman came along and was going for the same rolls, I told her what I'd seen and she felt the same.

Why is she squeezing them all?

Looking for a ripe one?

This is why I insist on washing my sourdough before eating it. My family says it ruins the bread but I'm not taking any chances

I would never use my hands, not the same as fruit/veg as you wash/peel skin.
I wouldn't use an open style bakery unless its looks freshly stocked up and no flies around.

It's completly unacceptable to touch a bakery item until it belongs to you. I don't care if you 100% expect ot buy it. Use the tongs.
What if your card doesn't work at the checkout and you need to put it back? what if you suddenly have an emergency and need to rush off, abandoning your trolley and the bakery item needs to be returrned?
TONGS!! ALWAYS USE TONGS!!

As for those people rummaging through with their germy fingers, they are just animals.

To see if they were fresh and not stale. She was looking for a nice spring, I get it.

BUT YOU CAN STILL USE THE TONGS.

I worked in a supermarket bakery a few years back and ever since will not touch loose stock in the bakery section. I watched people paw at it all day long. On the one occasion when I asked a woman not to touch the croissant unless she was buying one she nearly exploded with rage. I never said anything to anyone after that.

Lol at "Crossaint"

So, @Berlinlover - if even the bakery staff think it’s a filthy practice, why do shops still insist on it?

I worked in a supermarket when I was younger - I would never buy the loose bakery items for this reason. I’ve seen young children pick bakery items up, lick them and put them back. I obviously removed the items if I saw people do it, I’ve also seen people pick an item up, drop it then put it back with the others, and the worst - sneezing and coughing over them 🤮

Thanks ☺️

I spray mine with a home made mix of white vinegar, freshly squeezed lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda.

I run fruit through the quick rinse programme on my dishwasher, though without detergent obviously. Top tip, punch some holes in a Tupperware container for small things like cherries, strawberries , blueberries and blackcurrants.

Without detergent!!! 🤢

Major supermarkets never listen to the person working on the shop floor, I thought this was common knowledge?

Yes, as long as the salt dispenser and rinse aid container is fully topped up I find I don’t need detergent, unless I have bought waxed lemons by mistake, then I do add in half a tablet.

This is a joke, right?

I’m sure I read an article about this, apparently the smell of fresh baked goods makes people spend more overall although the bakery counter is often unprofitable.

Top tip, punch some holes in a Tupperware container for small things like cherries, strawberries , blueberries and blackcurrants.

Or just rinse them under the tap in a sieve or colander? And tip them out to dry on a clean tea towel. (Also makes it easy to spot anything squashed, damaged, whatever.)

(I am not at all sure I’m believing the dishwasher thing … )

I did know someone who worked on a bakery counter and it’s just trays of frozen stuff/ defrosted being bunged in an oven. It’s not like anyone is actually “baking” I buy bags of frozen croissants for t to hat authentic bakery counter experience without the manhandling.