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!!!!

You realise that people are talking and breathing all over you, not just your bread?

I was with my son in our local co-op years back and watched in horror as a woman was picking the pecans off a pastry and eating them. I've never bought any fresh bakery goods from there since!
I'm not fussy about stuff like that normally, I've eaten stuff from elsewhere that has them on display, just worried that lady was a regular at the co-op!

I always pick from underneath at buffets so less likelihood of people touching, coughing or sneezing over them. If the serving tray is down to the last few items, I take something else as they'll have been there too long.

On a cruise where the breakfast and lunch was buffet style, I'd only take what had been newly put out, i.e. from full trays, not just hotter and fresher, but again, less risk of people coughing and sneezing and pawing all over the items. Still took things from underneath though!

Depends how close you allow yourself to get close to strangers. I always stay as far away as possible and actively avoid busy/crowded places.

It's got nothing to do with not being ill or "still alive" etc. It's just plain grim. Why would you want to consume something that has someone's snot (or worse) all over it? It's enough to make you feel sick. I mean there are blokes who don't wash their hands after wiping their arse. So likelihood is that these bakery items have their shit particles all over them too. Rank

It must be really stressful worrying about this stuff all day long

This feels very exaggerated. I've never actually seen anyone touch these items and put them back, much less taking it to men with shit stained hands. Fine, don't eat them if you don't want to, but there's no issue with the rest of us enjoying them.

@Guthealing yes I agree it’s absolutely disgusting! Tesco are the same where I live with a variety of Artisan breads simply left bare and unpackaged on a table. These used to be wrapped during Covid which I was delighted about so I thought that may continue for hygiene reasons. Only last week I saw a man blow his snotty nose loudly (with that full of sinus phlegm liquid sound) beside the bread table, then picked up a freshly baked unwrapped loaf, looked at it, put it down and then got another one. There was no way his hands were dry after that nose blowing so he basically left his snot and germs all over that loaf for another customer to buy. How can anyone think this is ok?

Our Tesco is the same @PurpleDisco
Lovely breads and pastries left uncovered. I never buy them.

When my son was at primary school, every Christmas the youngest kids made mince pies for parents to buy.
The lovely teacher used to proudly announce that every child had had a go at mixing the ingredients.😝

She sold a lot but I doubt many were eaten.

Surely any kid nasties would have been baked off.

Do you actually need to be able to see the shit for it to put you off?

Ask any man you know, who you think has decent hygiene, how many men walk out of the men's toilets without washing their hands. It's horrifying. I assume they are relying on not being able to see the dirt.

I bypass any uncovered food, not just in M&S but coffee shops are just as bad.

Calm down. I was reacting to people saying things like "I'm never ill" and "I'm still alive". It's not necessarily about catching an illness. It's about people with disgusting hygiene touching stuff and putting it back.
I've regularly seen people do exactly that. People who sneeze into their hands and touch these items. People who never wash their hands. I'm allowed to think it's gross and comment accordingly. If you want to eat them and have low standards, fill your boots

Oh yuck not men, how horrid!!! Some people keep one in the house, just disgusting!

Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?

Same. Farmers Markets etc all have food in the open.

I agree, I love M&S for a lot of their food items but I never buy their bakery items that are open like this. I once saw a parent and child (aged 8/9) picking up pastries, changing their minds and replacing them. I did point it out to a member of staff who just shrugged and directed me to the packaged items.

I agree that M&S bakery goods are horribly unhygienic - but surely all they need to do to improve is put perspex covers over the items, with tongs to reach in and grab items, like pic n' mix used to be? I would buy things from them if they did that, but currently, the thought of people coughing over the food and fingering it with grubby hands, puts me right off.

It's just something I didn't know, until the guys at work mentioned it, because I don't hang about in men's toilets.

Not something I've noticed in women's toilets, probably because most do wash their hands.

I do keep a man at home, but he's not an unhygienic one.

Nor me. 🙄

I'm immunosupressed and have never had an issue with M&S bakery. Mumsnet is weird about this stuff, I remember a thread where someone was raging about the veg being fondled. It's perfectly normal to check an avo for ripeness etc, we've become so removed from our environment, expecting everything sanitised and wrapped.

But had to give up on Morrisons salad bar after seeing kids eating off the serving spoons and putting them back. But the issue there is people with feral kids.

Well I was making a point - saying something is fine because you are alive is only relevant if we know how many people are not alive.
Also, not dying is a pretty low bar, I like to just not get ill from eating food that's been uncovered and touched.

I feel a lot more squeamish (and worry about potentially getting ill) about buffets than I do about bread or bakery items. Although thats mostly about how long food has been at room temperature

Maybe it’s a lot more noticeable for a lot more people these days because there has been a significant increase in medical treatments which, while very welcome and appreciated, do bring side effects like immune suppression.

I have no idea if ‘feral kid indulgent lazy parenting’ is more prevalent or not. I’m not a social statistician.

But what are the other implications?

Beyond you thinking it's a bit ick, which fair enough, but that's a personal thing.