Bacon & Ham??

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

Good point Neenee Jellybeanie. I also heard the other day that to never buy marinated or crumbed meat as it is all the old stuff that they use to do it. Don't know if it is true but makes some sense so will be avoiding that! (pregnant or not!)

That's true. When I worked in the deli we would cube up all the ham left on the bone and put it in our potato salad. We never used anything that was expired though I don't know about other delis (we had very high standards for everything as we were a gourmet deli).

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

Oh, and as a side note, if you go to a deli or sandwich bar or such, always ask the attendant to remove their gloves and replace them with new ones. Gloves actually spread more disease than your hands do if they are not changed with every customer, ESPECIALLY if the attendant is also handling money.

Thanks for the info. All reputable comanies that handle food will have a policy on how often the staff must change their gloves (at McDonalds - which isn't exactly reputable lol! - the staff are required to change their gloves at least hourly). I agree though that asking staff to change them anyway is a great idea and totally worth the potential for awkwardness.

P.S.
How much do you hate it when silly people wear gloves but handle money as well as food?

[LimeSlice]

NJ - So frustrating!! lol
Unfortunately though an hour isnt good enough.(And most supervisors have no idea how long individual staff have been wearing their gloves, ergo no way to enforce such a policy effectively.) If you washed your hands only once an hour when handling food, you would kill people! The premise is that you should change your gloves as often as you would wash your hands. However, given that you cannot feel how dirty your hands are, or how sticky from chicken juice, or mayonnaise they are, you will be less inclined to change your gloves iykwim. So most people don't. Particularly younger less experienced staff, or people who aren't 'career' food workers. Gloves tend to be seen as a prevention of hand germs, a way to placate people who you happen to be serving at that time who see them and think "Wow, they are wearing gloves, that must be hygienic!" As I said though, it is more often the case that those gloved hands have made 3 people sandwiches before yours, have open and closed fridges and tongs handled by other staff, and possibly even handled several different exchanges of money.
Most chefs you speak to refuse to wear them for this very reason - it is simply cleaner and more effective in disease prevention to wash ones hands than to wear gloves.
Most food danger comes not from expired or rotten food but from the incompetency of the people handling the product

[sunshine_sieben]

NJ, I don't think I would classify using the ham that's left on the bone as something unappetising. The ham that's left on the bone is usually really tasty, but because it's so close to the bone, it's impossible to slice in a presentable fashion. Unless it's also out of date, I wouldn't think of it as a bad thing not to waste that.

And about that glove thing: I have seen that so many times that people were wearing gloves, than they pick up a rag to wipe up a spill and make the next sanwich without changing the gloves. Or as LS has mentioned, handle money in between. I always had to shake my head when thos same people tell me that they wear them for hygiene reasons.

Saša