Nasty habits

[GadgetGuy]

It is amazing to me that people will go into the bathroom use the toilet and not wash their hands. When I worked in a restaurant I would see cooks sneez into the grill with food cooking on it. I even saw a server sneez right into a plate of food and take it to the table as if nothing had happened to the food. Food handling maybe a bigger concern than peoples germs as we do build a resistance to other peoples germs.

The sure-fire way to tell & determine that for sure, is that when you go in there, and there is only just one toilet for everyone to use, if the last person who used it didn't flush it when they were done, then THAT is definitely a sign that if they don't flush the toilet or urinal, and chances are, that they're not washing there hands either.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Most supermarkets & department stores that sell food (most of them do now to compete with the supermarkets), they now have either a jell-type hand sanitizer dispenser, or sanitizer napkin despensers just past the entrance doorway, so that when you come in, you can sanitizer your hands & the shopping cart handle, & stop bacteria at the front door. I've seen these at Target stores.

 

[sidevalve]

You can also get a hand sanitizer spray that comes in a pen-style plastic pocket little container. All it is, is rubbing alcohol. This also helps to fight germs and bacteria that might be on the hands. You can fill it with more alcohol when it is empty, instead of going out to buy another one. Everyone has rubbing alcohol at home. Who doesn't?

Er - we don't. Maybe it's more common over in the states. [Wonder if whisky would do, seems a waste but you could always lick you fingers clean] I used to work outside and the company used to supply us with tiny sealed sachets each containing one hand wipe [we were often working miles from any washing facilities]. It was easy to keep a couple in your pocket, I like the idea of a little pen type spray though.
About the cook chill food - I don't suggest that properly done this is the problem [if the guidelines are followed] but the problem comes with small sandwich and burger type vans who sometimes don't follow the rules.

 

[Dianemwj]

We have had a spate of food poisoning amongst employees from eating in the Employee Dining Room (EDR). Hotel/casino employees are not permitted to leave the premises during shifts, so we are paid for our lunch breaks and the property provides a free cafeteria. The cooks in the EDR seem to resent preparing food for other employees so they don't take the care they should. I've gotten sick twice myself, both times from eating, I believe, soup not kept at a safe temperature. One of the EDR cooks told my wine runner to NEVER eat the fish. Bringing food from home is not an option for most workers, as there are around 7,000 employees working on property and there are no facilities available for all those people to store home brought food. I've learned to be very careful when selecting my food. I stick to salads and I make my own sandwiches. There's always a big pan of bacon and if it is not burnt (yes, they serve burnt bacon to us), so I make BLTs. Sometimes we even get tuna salad. The hot food is never hot, but they seem to be able to keep the cold food cold.

 

[Corzhens]

Most of the fastfood here require their food attendants to have hairnet or headgear to prevent loose hair from mixing with the food. However, some small restaurants, particularly the cheap ones, don't apply that rule. We could see their cooks and kitchen helpers to be wearing ordinary clothes, no apron, no head gear. That's against the sanitation ordinances.

 

[classic33]

I could name one well known high food retailer*, near me, whose staff wouldn't even think twice about picking up food they'd dropped on the floor and placing it back in the box. Then continuing out of the building to deliver it.

*Was the subject of a thread elswhere, by someone who got the wrong order. Same chain, separate shops.

 

[cupcakechef]

I worked in fast food as a teenager and even then it was a mandatory requirement to wear hairnets, gloves and so forth when preparing food...and these are rules enforced to kids!! It astounds me too when I go to food places and they don't adhere to that sort of thing...I would have to say one of the biggest turn-offs is when you find a hair in your food! I've had it happen more than once and when they offer to replace the food it still grosses me out!

I feel like those steps are pretty simple to prevent any sort of nasties getting into the food - but yet sometimes common sense isn't all that common, huh?!

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

As much as possible we avoid eating out in a private or public dining places for reasons that we don't know how the foods had been handled by the people who prepared the foods before it is being serve to its customer and also due to some nasty habits by the handlers and servers of foods in these places. It is not that we don't trust these people we are just taking precautions to avoid health problems. And one thing we really want to cook and eat always at home.

 

[winterybella]

It is for this very reason that I don't like eating out much. I had a friend that used to in with an International food chain and the things he confessed they did especially to irritating customers pale in comparison to any hair or gloves. When I must I like to send out for my food so I don't have to see what's going on.