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

@LoobyDop couldn’t agree more, we need exposure to germs etc to maintain a healthy immune system.

Tbh even the baskets and trollies in some supermarkets put me off. It’s usually the very small Express type places - grim plastic baskets covered in gunge … I tend to stride boldly in and just grab the couple of items I need in my hands and race straight to the checkout.

And I can ingest plenty of germs without voluntarily subjecting myself to other people’s snot or pee on a loaf of bread!

(A younger relative of mine recently emerged shocked and chastened from a holiday job at a local deli. They’ve now vowed never to set foot in any similar place as a customer … )

Holy water blessed by the pope.😀😀😀

Even the packaged ones were handled and sneezed on at the bakery.

I can't how many people on here admit to not using tongs. Apparently the dough is made and then kept frozen for over a year before being baked "fresh" so I avoid supermarket bakeries even Waitrose and m&s.

I once passed 45 minutes in the Paddington Station Starbucks which overlooks the loose product bakery shelves at M&S. Practically everyone that went past picked something up and put it back.

I watched a man pick his nose in a supermarket aisle and later I saw him picking up bread rolls at the bakery 🤧 🤢won't touch unwrapped bread or cakes ever again

That's disgusting. I'd only ever lift something from the bakery with my hands if I knew I would only touch exactly what I was going to pay for and nothing else, and if no tongs were available.

It's different from fruit and veg because you wash fruit and veg before using it, can't really do that with a croissant!

You can be exposed to germs by going on public transport or to work in an office. You don't need to choose to eat bread laced with a stranger's poo crumbs to build your immune system.

It's grim but I'm wondering what happens in independent bakeries?

Years of commuting (various routes) via train and car has caused me to wonder why men feel compelled to pick their noses in every possible public place. (Nothing worse than being stuck at traffic lights forced to observe the driver of the next car rigorously excavating his nostrils. 🤢🤢🤢

TBH it has slightly put me off the entire male species. (Despite the fact they do have their uses!)

I put mine in the washing machine and then in the dishwasher.

@Applescruffle

Stop shouting.

i use my hands to pick up items im going to buy and you shouting like a loon isn't going to change that.

the tongs are unsanitary, they spend more time on the floor than the shel. People handle them.

I don't rummage, I pick up the item I want.

@37anddone I don't buy from the farm shop because they're at small child heigh, too tempting to 'pat' and I once saw a child lick one. Not to mention adults lacking self control 😂

I do but from Waitrose up the road but only easily in the morning before there's been anyone much in there to paw them... not at the end of the day.

occasionally if I'm elsewhere very early.

could really go some fresh Waitrose Olive bread now!!

im not supposed to eat bread, but sometimes...

Backtoreality1 · Today 10:24

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 :)

Not sure why you'd be ok with adults touching the bread but not kids? I think either is pretty gross but have only actually seen adults doing it.

I feel pretty much the same way about the deli counter at the supermarket. I know they serve you but bits drop off while they are serving into something else. I once had cheese that tasted of ham. I don’t eat meat.

I don’t really like to use the filthy tongs either to be honest. God knows how often they get a wash. What I do is put the bag over my hand, like you do when you pick up dog poo, and then transfer the baked good into the bag.

Don't tell me what to do, YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MUM!!

I won't buy them for this reason either. The local M&S has a lovely pastry and bread counter but all uncovered.

I used to go to a local farmers market that had the same problem. Both the bakery and cheese stalls were packed all the way to the front of the table so most customers were leaning onto the food with their coats and coughing over it all.

Tesco have been putting out their loaves unwrapped for a while now and I won't buy them because of it. I actually complained to the Council but got fobbed off. I only buy bread from Morrisons now because they still wrap theirs.

YES I AM!

(Though, to be soap-pedantic, it was just “You’re not my Mum!”.

Zoe, and the audience, had no reason to suspect that she and Kat did not share the same biological mother, and they both knew who that was. That was why it was such a shockingly surprise plot twist!)

😮

Ah, I wasn't even thinking of Eastenders, it was this meme that sprung to mind.

Now I wish I'd shouted "YOU'RE NOT MY MUVVA!!"

37anddone · Today 10:26

Looking for a ripe one?

Now there's a thought!

This thread's great, putting fruit in the dishwasher & washing machine, sheep dip - ! I'm laughing like a hyena!

I don’t know enough about medicine or biology or whatever specialism it is to comment. I’m also squeamish about the details, but not worrying too much about it hasn’t killed me so far, so I’m happy to file it under “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”.