AIBU to think open bakery items in M&S are unhygienic?

[Guthealing]

Went to m and s on the way home - it was busy. I was absolutely shocked at the bakery area and then nearer the front of the store a table with unpackaged loaves of bread ?

As it was after school there were children there and I saw 2 touch some of the pastries , people were looking at them talking and breathing all over them and one woman coughed 🤮 the loaves of bread at the other side were being picked up and put down , a child was moving them about, how can this be hygienic??! Why is the bakery area not covered in some way? I usually go to Waitrose and their bakery items are in a cabinet at least. M and s isn’t cheap so why are they not more hygienic!!!!

Agree, I never buy bakery products like that. Nice for those of you who eat this stuff with no problem but it's still disgusting. I don't get why shops do it.

The difference was it was usually behind a counter - and even if it wasn’t people had better self discipline and respect re food standards - most wouldn’t dream of touching food ( or letting their children touch it) and putting it back - and if they did the shopkeeper would have yelled at them !! The current M&S counters aren’t monitored closely, and nor are the children who have their hands in their pants or up their noses ( literally have seen this) then poking at the bread/ cakes!! I’m not germ phobic and happily eat out/ brush a fly off my food - but the thought of people not having washed their hands touching baked goods that I may want to buy makes me utterly nauseous! It’s not like you can peel or wash a loaf of bread!!

Those saying “ let’s wrap everything in plastic” - you have heard of paper bags ?

Years ago I watched with horror as an old man sorted through bread rolls in a supermarket in Lewes, waiting for the dewdrop to drop off the end of his nose, which it did, right into the bin of rolls. No, I don’t buy stuff that is not wrapped!

Errree yes they did!

Modern hygiene methods have saved many lives!

Yes I’m a child of the 70’s and remember doing the High Street shopping with my Mum - first the grocer, then baker then butcher last (no candlestick maker sadly).

Yes things were in shelves but behind the counter and you had to point and ask for what you wanted. And as a child, I knew I had to stay beside Mum, and NOT TOUCH anything!

I did report my concerns re baked goods uncovered, and not just in M&S, to the Food Safety Authority in Ireland. They didn’t want to know, weren’t bothered.
Perhaps the UK authorities are better ?

I own a cafe and I don't understand how they get past the food hygiene regulations to be able to do this. I refuse to even have cakes out on my counter let alone where kids could touch them, it's just gross.

Salad bars too 🤢 my friend found a piece of chewing gum gobbed in her salad from a certain supermarket . Some people are just vile

I’ve had campylobacter and never eaten chicken since. That was one of the worst things I’ve ever had

I mean Typhoid Mary was rarely ill either 😅. She couldn’t understand all the fuss about hand washing - it was just bad luck those around her got ill.

On another note though, getting ill is not a moral failing.

Who said it was a moral failing? Certainly not me.

And I'm not sure what the relevance of TM when we're talking about not getting ill from supermarket bakery. I don't think the had M&S muffins in the 19th century.

Not you particularly - the tone that some pp give that people who are ill are just so because they are pernickety about germs.

She was a cook! It was through her cooking that families got ill (and then patrons in a restaurant). She was not washing )or not washing her hands well enough). It was thought that her sorbet/ ice cream/(items that are not cooked to a high heat to kill germs) were the main culprits.

No, not M&S Foodhall but still to do with food!

And typhoid is (thankfully) not a problematic disease in the UK any more.

Bakery is very low risk for food poisoning as foods go as it happens.

The UK and many other places have come through many awful diseases and it is in part why we have things like food standards and hygiene rules. Modern hygiene has saved many lives as pp said above :). Maybe having an intuitive idea of these things saved some people's lives in the past... who knows...

Nothing wrong with not wanting strangers sneezing, coughing, touching, licking your food, or not minding if they do (so long as there is not a breakout of some new illness or disease).

I didn't say there was anything wrong with, I said there was nothing to indicate that displaying bakery like that is making people ill

Sadly they aren't. I complained to my local Council about Tesco putting out bread unwrapped. All they did was ring Tesco who fobbed them off, so they did nothing.

I was replying to "Tiime was when everything was on sale in the street, meat, fish veg. No-one died."

Diito. We used to own a typical corner newsagents shop. As common at the time, we sold a lot of "unwrapped" sweets, some in jars to be weighed, some in boxes in the "penny counter". Our local council plagued us with inspections, checks and "reminding" us of the rules. The unwrapped "penny counter" sweets had to be behind glass and only served by us, likewise the jars to be weighed had to be behind the counter on shelves, so basically, customers couldn't touch anything unwrapped nor even the containers they were in. I don't understand what has changed in the past few decades to allow unwrapped foodstuffs (that aren't going to be cooked/washed prior to eating) to be out in the open.

@BringBackCatsEyes

maybe…maybe not…either way it’s hardly very appetising is it?!

I don't like it, and I grew up with this sort of thing

How old is that image? It must be ancient - look at the prices!

Same.
We didn't become a successful speeches by hand-wringing at the possibility of a few germs.

I don't eat baked goods/pastries (I'm a gym goer/healthy eater) but if I did this wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

Well I'm ancient - this was the 1970s

Exsqueeze me, I remember prices like that and I’m barely middle aged honestly 😆 my guess is early 70’s.