Supermarket Tongs for Bread, etc.

[Tri2Cook]

I'm all for food safety and hygeine and all, but life's too short to get too obsessive. Sometimes you've got to just acknowledge the fact that things might not be squeaky clean, enjoy it anyway and rest assure that it does your immune system some good to face a bit of a challenge every now and then.

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Agreed. At work I'm obsessive with cleanliness and sanitation but in my day to day life I touch doorknobs and elevator buttons without running for a handwash. I use and flush public toilets (a handwash is mandatory then but that's the case even using my own toilet). I eat bread from the bulk bins. I've eaten a lot of fruits and vegetables without washing them throughout my life. I've also never had a flu shot. I very rarely get sick at all, maybe something mild once a year at most. I've only been sick enough to admit I needed to stay in bed and miss work twice in the past 16 years (not including a brief hospital visit to say goodbye to my appendix) and only sick enough to go see a doctor once in that time period (due to illness, hobby related injuries are a different story ).

But that's the illness factor, I never really gave thought to the nasty factor... kids, (and adults for that matter) grubby hands rumaging through the stuff, dirty tongs, etc. Hmmmm.

[Batard]

I'm all for food safety and hygeine and all, but life's too short to get too obsessive. Sometimes you've got to just acknowledge the fact that things might not be squeaky clean, enjoy it anyway and rest assure that it does your immune system some good to face a bit of a challenge every now and then.

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As far as this issue goes, I guess we all need to draw our own personal line in the sand. I'm immunosuppressed, so my "line" for germ acceptability is going to be different than most people's. I never get a cold or get sick, so i am doing something right.

Sherry made a great point: who's cleaning the tongs?