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All other foods in the grocery are covered, sealed, packaged, in a covered bin, behind a sneeze guard, etc. All except for store baked bread (and produce but produce is expected to be washed). Why is it ok for bread to sometimes lie there exposed for you to pick up with tongs, with no protection from germs? If it is in a bag, often the end is open making vulnerable to someone's sneeze. You always see in movies people returning from the store with a big loaf of bread sticking out of the bag. I've always wondered about this. Is there a logical reason for it?
Ugh. I don't like sealed, covered and packaged bread.
It doesn't taste as fresh.
Most of the bread I buy comes hot out of the oven, and can't be sealed.
I buy nearly all of my food package free. Bulk bins with dispensers minimize the potential for contamination. As for olive bars, salad bars, etc., arrive when the store opens to fill your containers. I've been doing this for years, and I've yet to become ill despite being on aggressive immunosuppressant therapy for autoimmune disease. I understand that it gives some people the heebie-jeebies, but a few simple precautions can lower the risk considerably.
I actually won't buy stuff out of the bulk bins.....I consider it an obsolete and questionable way to store and sell food in a modern grocery.
I don't know how many times I have seen dolts stick their grubby mitts into food-bins....especially the candy-bins, YUCK.
Bread, yes, I much prefer it to be sealed.
Most of the foods I get from bulk bins aren't the sort of things that people are going to be sampling ... rice, beans, oats, quinoa, various flours, etc.
eh, bread like that is not supposed to be all covered up, it is mainly crusty Italian breads and if they are wrapped when warm they get all soggy from the moisture.
The best way to fight any germs is to grow all of your own food items, grind the flour, bake the bread, process everything yourself. That way you know exactly what goes where from start to finish.
Besides there are germs lurking everywhere, even in your own home and inside your body, you can't kill them all.
eh, bread like that is not supposed to be all covered up, it is mainly crusty Italian breads and if they are wrapped when warm they get all soggy from the moisture.
The best way to fight any germs is to grow all of your own food items, grind the flour, bake the bread, process everything yourself. That way you know exactly what goes where from start to finish.
Besides there are germs lurking everywhere, even in your own home and inside your body, you can't kill them all.
I think ive seen the European open-markets, where just about everything is in the open air
and
co-ops
farmers markets,,,,aren't most of these open air markets??
and
the farm-stand...... the promise land of all health and good in the world,,,,aren't these items all sold open air?? and do we really wash all our veggies in hot enough water to kill all the bacteria?
take a good sniff at a farm stand...yep,, the sweet smell of cow manure is everywhere, and all over your veggies too, because its grown in it
and flies,,, flies are everywhere
those hard breads - aren't they artisan breads,,,that need to be hard and dry??
some store do place them in a type of half bag,,,so not to be overly exposed- however, this cuts down on sales, most folks want to see the whole thing
how about open air salad bars?? my god,,,every one that breathes, coughs, sneezes nearby, the germs are settling on the veggies,,,,not to mention the flies again..
10 years ago, I went to a supermarket tradeshow, and at the sanitation systems booth, a guy was giving a demo , how his chemicals clean bacteria,,,he gave us these "bacteria glasses"
he said he paid over 1000 for these glasses, but they identified bacteria by shades of color- so he gave his demo, and I was just so intrigued by these glasses- I asked if I could where them for 5 minutes around the tradeshow,
it was un believable, the bacteria was everywhere, one pretty lady had some very harmful and dense bacteria on her hands, and she was shaking hands with hundreds of people,
she scratched her face, and a patch of bacteria was left under her eye
I went to the produce area- a huge beautiful displays of fresh fruits and veggies-I could see tons of bacteria on fruit , people were just picking up and eating..
I asked him where he got those glasses- he wouldn't say,
Everywhere I shop, most store baked bread/baked goods is usually in bins if it's to be individually selected with tongs, otherwise it's left on racks to cool and then put in loose (usually) paper bags to maintain the crust.
Bread gets gross and soggy if you don't let it breathe as it cools from the oven. Fresh baked bread is also usually free of preservatives and meant to be eaten within a day or two of baking, unlike the bread you find packaged up and sitting with a use by date a couple weeks away.
I don't mind taking my chances with a fresh baked loaf of bread (I bake my own) exposed to the open air and any germs floating through it over a loaf with a whole heap of unnecessary ingredients nicely wrapped on a shelf. I know there is bad bacteria out there, but there's a whole lot of not going to do you any harm, and even is good for you bacteria all around us.
None of the recipients of my Friday bread baking frenzies has yet complained or gotten sick when SO wanders the neighborhood with a basket full of warm bread.
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