Salad bars and food bars in grocery stores (health, pizza, leftover)

[GreenMachine]

I love going to Whole Foods and filling up on their salad bars and vegetarian bars. But it really creeps me out the thought of all that food sitting out all day with people walking by and sticking their hands in it. I've seen some pretty gross things at salad bars, like little kids reaching into grab something. I can only imagine all the stuff floating through the air that lands in the salad, hair and dandruff and whatnot.

I've finally decided that the best thing to do is get their early just as they're putting the food out, because then it's fresh and uncontaminated. Otherwise, I just have to eat the food fast and not think about what's in it.

greenie

[stevie_2]

Early in the day seems logical, but you are only getting the left-overs from last night. YUCK!

[Millipooh]

also who is to say that the kitchen help doesn't get hair in the food cutting up the veggies, or making the salad.......Or anything else. Kitchens in places like that are usually clean because of inspections but you still have employees that may not wash their hands, or all kinds of things. What I am saying it is pretty hard to get away from all that YUK!

[nsa162]

I personally dont eat out or eat from salad bars. I make everything myself. I really started doing this because someone i know got hepatitis from eating contaminated food. Turns out,some guy working in the pizza place had hepatitis and didnt wash his hands before preparing food. Gross. I dont trust anyone with my food.There may be a certificate on the wall that says it meets the health dept. code but they only come once in a while. Its not like someone from the health dept. is sitting over them.

[Paula Lynn]

I think you take a chance where ever you eat.

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by stevie_2

Early in the day seems logical, but you are only getting the left-overs from last night. YUCK!

At Whole Foods they "compost" leftover food.

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by nsa162

I personally dont eat out or eat from salad bars. I make everything myself. I really started doing this because someone i know got hepatitis from eating contaminated food. Turns out,some guy working in the pizza place had hepatitis and didnt wash his hands before preparing food. Gross. I dont trust anyone with my food.There may be a certificate on the wall that says it meets the health dept. code but they only come once in a while. Its not like someone from the health dept. is sitting over them.

So basically, he had gotten his own feces on his hands, came out of the toilet, spun that pizza dough around regardless. I would have thought the heat would have killed the hepatitis virus.

[gentlearts]

The world is crawling with bacteria, including your own body. Just try to stop thinking about it. If we knew what touched the food we eat in its travels to our tables, no one would ever eat again.

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

The world is crawling with bacteria, including your own body. Just try to stop thinking about it. If we knew what touched the food we eat in its travels to our tables, no one would ever eat again.

I'm not worried about bacteria. I'm worried about what falls into food that just left to sit there out in the open all day. All that dandruff and dead skin that comes off people and floats onto the food bar. How about when someone reaches over the potato salad and a bugger drops out of their nose? Or their disgusting shirt sleeve drags across the tabouli -- or when some homeless guy walks through the store and dunks his dirty hand in the artificial crab to grab a handful to much on?

I can't go there anymore. I feel sick.

[Paula Lynn]

I hope I'm not getting off the topic ............ Here's my co-worker, sitting behind me with the flu? and runny nose. She went home early on Thursday and all day today (Friday) I watched her wipe her nose with her hand, Notr to mention all the papers she was handling. ICK