Meat Handling at The Butchers

Johnni on 28/01/2018 - 10:57

A couple of different butchers I have been to have their service staff wear plastic gloves. From one perspective it seems like a very hygienic practice that any food handling with gloves is better than bare hands.

Making my choice of cuts, the shop person grabs the selections with gloved hand and puts it in a bag and pops them on a scale. With gloved hand pushes buttons on electronic scales that others use to select item for price. With same gloved hand, takes my money and returns change which is now a bit wet with meat residue from previous meat collection. With same gloved hand, hands me my purchased goods in a plastic bag that is also contaminated now. Then after touching money and meat, they happily serve another customer in the exact same fashion.

Is there a law regarding this abhorrent practice of dealing with food? I am under the impression that you should not wash meat.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • Savas on 28/01/2018 - 11:04
    +26

    i reckon the quality of some of the OzB forum posts have really gone down..

  • c64 on 28/01/2018 - 11:04
    +8

    better than having them scratching their balls and then handling your meat.

    oh wait … they do that with their gloves on too? you might want to toss your meat

    • GarrusVakarian on 28/01/2018 - 11:40
      +6

      Better than them handling their meat and then handling your meat

      FTFY

    • try2bhelpful on 28/01/2018 - 11:41
      +1

      wearing gloves at the time?

  • barbarella on 28/01/2018 - 11:08
    +6

    eat washable veggies instead :)

    • airal3rt on 28/01/2018 - 13:14
      +8

      Q: How do you know if someone's vegan/vegetarian?

      A: Don't worry, they'll tell you!

  • PJC on 28/01/2018 - 11:18
    +21

    Cooking before consumption may be advisable.

  • Ryanek on 28/01/2018 - 11:28
    +15

    You might want to stay away from all of Asia.

  • Slippery Fish on 28/01/2018 - 11:30
    +6

    This is the exact reason why regular hand washing and sanitising is considered better then gloves…

    Glove for show, hand washing for pro…

    • dcep on 28/01/2018 - 12:42
      +1

      Wash hand
      the shop person grabs the selections choice of cuts
      Wash hand
      and puts it in a bag
      Wash hand
      and pops them on a scale
      Wash hand
      pushes buttons on electronic scales
      Wash hand
      takes my money and returns change
      Wash hand
      hands customer purchased goods in a plastic bag
      Wash hand

      • Slippery Fish on 28/01/2018 - 12:49
        +2

        Anyone can make something look stupid, obviously you would use a bag to get meat, bag it take cash then sanitise. Wash hands at regular intervals.

      • khued on 28/01/2018 - 14:44
        +1

        at a local BBQ duck & soy sauce chicken place, they have two people at the counter. One chops up meat and put into box, another accepts money, gives change, and hand over box.

        So butcher could have two people manning the front line. One picks & package meat, another handle payments.

      • Dazza610 on 29/01/2018 - 08:35

        Yeah…
        and then there is all those meat factory workers that take so much care with cleanliness !!!!!

  • coco1458 on 28/01/2018 - 11:38
    +10

    I'd always rather butchers just use the plastic bag to grab the meat, their hands stay clean and the meat doesn't get touched directly. Win win but I mean you gotta cook it anyways so it doesn't bother me

    • follow on 28/01/2018 - 13:08
      +1

      dont't understand why they all don't do this. much easier. hands will smell of meat either way

  • whooah1979 on 28/01/2018 - 11:43
    +6

    You may want to have your smartphone and keyboard tested fecal matter, then come back and start a thread on how dirty they are.

  • poboy on 28/01/2018 - 12:21

    They should only wear a plastic glove on one hand.

    • Savas on 28/01/2018 - 12:26
      +1

      why? gloves are inhygenic

      • Baysew on 28/01/2018 - 14:57
        +2

        ..and you might be confused with Michael Jackson.

      • poboy on 28/01/2018 - 20:26
        +1

        Does that mean they are hygienic?

        • Savas on 28/01/2018 - 20:35

          yep, unhygienic. thanks for noticing.

        • poboy on 28/01/2018 - 22:00

          No worries. Will let the manufacturers know.

  • outlander on 28/01/2018 - 12:45
    +2

    Its not ideal certainly, but I think its within tolerances. The human body is built to handle much worse sources of contamination.

    Butchers, at least the ones I've been to, are pretty heavy on regular and thorough cleaning, so that scale might get wiped down multiple times a day. Likewise, the gloves are probably changed every hour at most

  • johninmelb on 28/01/2018 - 14:33
    +1

    Not sure about problems with washing meat, even though some websites recommend not to.

    My partner is Egyptian, and he washes the meat and chicken in water with some salt and a splash of vinegar. Now and again I remind him that our food handling standards are a bit better than those in Egypt, so there aren't too many problems with our food. But it is what he is used to.

    On a trip to Egypt back in 2008 I saw butchers dismembering beef carcasses out in the street with the heat and the flies etc. I doubt I would eat any meat over there!

  • JimmyF on 28/01/2018 - 14:39
    +3

    From one perspective it seems like a very hygienic practice that any food handling with gloves is better than bare hands.

    Clean well washed hands are just as 'safe' as gloves.

    The problem with gloves, is like you have seen. Staff use them for everything from handling food, to money, to pushing buttons etc. Basically then these gloves become no better than washed hands, infact worse as people will wash their hands more often.

  • Baysew on 28/01/2018 - 14:54
    +2

    Use of gloves
    The Food Standards Code does not require food handlers to use gloves

    HEALTH AND HYGIENE REQUIREMENTS OF FOOD HANDLERS

  • Ss-ss on 28/01/2018 - 15:42
    +5

    Reminds me of the classic dad joke :
    Vegans think butchers are gross but I think people who sell fruit & veggies are grocer

    • follow on 29/01/2018 - 01:40
      -1

      s

  • x2r9ypbj on 29/01/2018 - 10:19

    Buy your butcher some gloves ok.

  • Findo on 31/01/2018 - 14:48

    The gloves aren’t there to stop cross contamination, they’re used to keep the butcher’s hands clean only. Same with fishmongers.

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