Would you like fries with the dirt from under my nails?

I have to apologize up front if I rant a little on this topic, its just one that drives me nuts. My friends who see this post on FB are going to laugh as they know how nuts I get about people being careless when they are handling food for others.

Here’s a little tidbit for you. A few years back here in Utah they tested the lemon slices at restaurants, guess what ? Two of every three restaurants who were tested had fecal matter found in small amounts on their lemon wedges. This is poor hand washing at its best.  I’m sure this is not just a Utah thing,lol. . . Hold the lemon in my drink please, ;op

First I have a couple of questions for you:

1) Is it ok to cook with jewelry on your hands and no gloves??

2) If you don’t wash your hands and you put on gloves are your hands now clean??

3) Is it ok to touch any part of your body while cooking as long as you have on gloves( example: brush hair out of your eyes, scratch your hair, arms, face, etc)?

4) Is it ok to lick your fingers while handling the utensils being used to serve the food for the buffet???

So here is what started this rant for me today. I wanted a burger from one of the local shops. The guy working the grill walks out from another room while taking his ear buds out of his ears. I tell him I want a hamburger, he goes to grab the meat patty. I said whoa, aren’t  you going to wash your hands and put on gloves. He says um, ok, sorry. … I’m not gonna eat there again (

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A few weeks ago I was at the Rumbi off of State Street here in Utah for a business lunch.  They were pretty busy and had quite a wait for food.  This Rumbi has two sections for taking care of the food; the area with the cash register, food wrap/bagging area and the cooking area. While I’m waiting a guy walks in from off the street for his shift. I’m standing there thinking, watch this guy apron up and start cooking with out washing his hands. Yep that is exactly what he did. He pulled his jersey over his head to reveal his work shirt, grabbed a pair of gloves with his dirty hands and then proceeded to help with the cooking. In the mean time the young lady who is putting all the sauces on the rice bowls and the tops to cover the food proceeds to push her hair out of the way of her eyes at least four times.

I got one of the counter reps to get the manager for me. I was amazed at no hair nets and no request from him for the new guy who just walked in to hit the soap before he picked up a single cooking item! They’ve been checked off my list of places to eat.

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Ok, I still cringe from this one.  Some friends and I went bowling and decided to get lunch at the bowling alley.  First big no,no is the women who takes the order and cooks your food has a cold sore on her mouth. Anyway I am standing at the counter waiting to order, she has her back to me so she does not see me standing there. She’s got a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches cooking on the grill. She proceeds to use her fingers to help flip the first sandwich, lick her fingers and then proceeds to flip  the next one. My mouth fell open. She got the sandwiches all plated and took them over to a family who had ordered the sandwiches for their kids. I was speechless, all I could think is should I go tell the family to take back their order or should I keep my mouth shut and not cause a scene??

I didn’t approach the family, however I was going to make darn sure she was not cooking my food. I asked to speak with the manager and to have someone else cook my food and to make sure they washed their hands before they started cooking.

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Ok, last one, this one is not a cooking story but is still along the same lines.  As a gift basket consultant we have times when we have large orders and have all the baskets lined up like an assembly line to get them done quickly and efficiently. A few years ago we were all sharing how tired we were during the holidays with all the orders coming in.  One gift consultant shared how she had found basket shred in her underwear. Many thought this was funny, I thought it was gross and cringed.

Ya can’t get shred in your underwear unless your scratching or touching off limit parts while working on your gift baskets, yuck.

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I could tell a dozen more food horror stories. My only question is why don’t people use common sense.

1) Take off your rings before cooking, its cool if you want the ring crumblies in your food, but I think for guest or in a restaurant you should make an exception

2)Come on,  ya gotta wash your hands before you pick up the clean gloves, other wise whats the point??

3) Leave your skin cells, butt crack germs, etc out of my food. Keep your hands off of you while cooking my food. If ya gotta scratch or wipe anything, step out of the cooking area, wash hands and then come back. I even apply this rule at home.

4) Its really not cool at any point to lick your fingers while serving food to others, I just don’t want to be that intimate with you.

These are just a few behaviors I  have encountered over the years that just amaze me.  Well anyway I am done ranting, unfortunately my “Skip this restaurant” list is growing.

To you dining delight

Tina D.

Tweet me @ bloggenie7

Tags: cooking channels, cooking shows, hand washing germs, washing hand facts