Don’t Eat That It May Be Dangerous!

  Having been in the food-service industry for many years and dealing with sanitation and the health of the public there is one thing that scares me.  Sure I may be reading a book on Viruses, so it got me thinking.  Holy cow it got me thinking! Remember 911 and the fear of terrorists?  How about someone wanting to kill allot of people quickly?  How about someone wanting to just get allot of people sick?  How about a food service not monitoring time and temperatures?  How about not cleaning a food item that does not need to be cooked?  I will never eat from one of these American Icons again.  The self serve SALAD BAR!

  Let me list the reasons they are so dangerous:

1. People touch things!  People do not wash their hands!  How many times did you go to the bathroom to see someone finish their duty and walk out the door without cleaning their hands?  In the food service industry they have a saying sing happy birthday while you lather up to make sure you get all the nastiness off your hands, fingers and fingernails.  So you wash your hands, big deal!  Did that person before you that did not wash your hands open the bathroom door?  Did you touch that door handle with your clean hand?  Well guess what you got the bacteria on you hands now.  What about those pigs that grab an olive out of the self serve olive cart?  Do you think they didn’t touch any of the olives?  How many times have I seen kids touching the food?  DON’T EAT FROM A SELF SERVE UNIT!
2. Do you know why they put sneeze guards up?  Not only do people sneeze but they also breathe and spit!  Did you ever talk to someone who spits when they talk?  I have yet to see anyone go through a buffet and not talk.  Do the buffet lines you go through have sneeze guards? Nope, never seen that.  Sure many food service professionals say that the food is kept over 140 degrees to kill any germs but I will challenge anyone on that.  I have been in the food service industry for 10 years and it was a great day if you can maintain a temperature on a buffet line.  How about those self serve bowls of salad with no sneeze guard and no temperature below 40 or above 140 degrees (which kills germs).
3. Do they wash the salad bar ingredients?  I sure hope so.  Did you know you need to wash the cantaloupe before you cute it?  How about a giant watermelon?  Sometimes they don’t even fit in the sink!  Well think about that watermelon sitting on the ground in dirt.  Then the melon is transferred to boxes for shipping.  Do you think that watermelon handler washed his hands?  Think about the spinach outbreak last year from California.  When cutting through a watermelon any bacteria on the skin will be transferred through the watermelon to the yummy flesh and into your waiting mouth.
4. How long has that uncovered yogurt been in the salad bar?  Here is the deal with time and temperature.  If the temperature of a cold item in a salad bar is sitting is over 40 degrees for over 4 hours then here comes the nastiness.  The bacteria grow and double in size.  After the bacteria grow they leave toxins.  Some rules are to leave it no longer then 3 days for customer.  I bet after 3 days its had been exposed to over 40 degrees for more then 4 hours.  Ask the attendant to see the time and temperature logs.
5. How about someone that wants to make allot of people sick?  How about that evil person that wants to sprinkle some substance to hurt or even kill allot of people?  Where are the salad bar police when that happens?  Do you trust everyone?  I can go on about this but think of terrorists!