My tip is more of a bit of advice. Since I am considering approaching certain grocery chain owners about my concerns, I would love feedback on this post.
I just read a post titled 'Always Remember Your Own Pen'. It mentioned that so many germs were found on pens in public places. It seems that most pathogens, cold and flu virus, etc. remain viable outside their preferred environs for longer than previously thought. With that in mind, read on.
In past years, grocery stores prepackaged grapes and sealed the packages. Inevitably, someone would open one package and the customers would sample the grapes before purchasing.
Now, at least at my neighborhood store, all of the packages are left unsealed. Anyone can sample the grapes from any package, and they do. In other words, any package you choose to buy has more than likely had someone's nasty, grubby hands in it.
As with apples and other fruits, you can wash the grapes when you get home. My concern is for the second, third, fourth and fifth customer to eat sample grapes from a bag. The fifth person is exposing themselves to the germs of four other people by sampling but not washing the grapes handled by them.
I think this practice is potentially dangerous and laws should be enacted against it. Transfer of microbes in this manner might cause someone a brief and minor illness. But, it would not be impossible to contract a deadly virus, as well, one that the carrier might not yet know he/she has.
What do you other members think of this practice?
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Good advice. That thought has entered my mine too when I purchase grapes although I'm guilty of tasting one before I purchased the bag just to see if they are good.
Another concern I have is the meats, especially chicken. I would love for the meat counter to have plastic bags to put your package of chicken in before you put it in your buggy. They do have some handy wipes available to clean your hands after handling the meats.
There's a very easy and simple way to combat what you talked about and that's not to sample the grapes in the store prior to getting them home to wash. Technically, the practice of "sampling" fruits, vegetables, etc. prior to purchase is is a form of theft, and as far as I know, theft is still illegal.
There's a simple and easy way to deal with the sanitary issues surrounding sampling fruits and vegetables in the store and that's to STOP "sampling" the fruits and vegetables prior to purchase. "Testing" or "sampling" fruits or vegetables prior to buying them is technically theft and to the best of my knowledge, theft is still illegal.
I think you're overreacting.
Exposing oneself to germs is actually a way of strengthening the immune system. You're going to touch stuff in the store and so are other people. It's a given.
Personally I don't know why I'd pay the prices they're asking for berries, grapes, and other produce without making sure it's good first.
Think what you will, Abigail. I've heard your argument from others, and I still ain't buying. Yes, exposure to certain germs causes our immune system to create antibodies against further exposure to that same germ. And exposure to certain other germs will put you in your grave.
Now hear this, Dear Lady. We do live in a sea of germs. It is impossible to avoid germs unless one lives in a bubble. That's no excuse for not avoiding as many of those germs as we reasonably can, particularly those which can make us sick.
There are children and elderly people walking around with fecal matter on their hands and under their fingernails. Those same people would sample the grapes.
I've seen too many children with runny, snotty noses who wipe their noses on their coat sleeves and their palms. Those same children would be the first to stick their little hands into the bag of grapes.
Abigail, I doubt you have spent much time in the men's restroom. Well, allow me to let you in on a dirty little secret. Half of the men who go in there, come out without washing their hands. As likely as not, their hands have traces of smegma/smegum on them. Those same hands are likely to be found in a bag of grapes, retrieving a sample.
If I'm overreacting, so be it.
You have me convinced. I will never sample another grape in the store before purchasing it.
This is all interesting, as just the other day it bothered me seeing a woman eat her way through the produce department, to me it seemed like stealing. BUT another issue are the germs, my husband is going through chemo therapy and my instructions are to even wash the outside of a banana before I peal it for him and also any "prewashed" produce must be washed again by me...and no cut fruit or produce in a restaurant.....Does this tell anyone what is lurking in our stores and restaurants??
Yeah, germs are. And I'm very sorry about your husband. But his immune system has been effectively destroyed by chemo, which is what chemo is for.
Those with uncompromised immune systems tend to handle the grocery store pretty well.
The fact is that "washing" produce doesn't really clean it. It gets off visible dirt, but mostly you're just rinsing with plain water. That wouldn't get the germs off hands and it doesn't really with produce either. It helps, though.
Your best bet if you're concerned with germs on produce is to wash with vinegar or lemon juice, then rinse. Also, if anything has a peel on, peel it.
Vinegar or lemon juice? Smart idea!
A few years back, all grocery stores carried a solution for washing fruits and vegetables. I think it was 'green' something. Then, it was gone with the wind. Wonder what happened? I never tried it.
I think you are all over reacting. Germs is what also keep us safe from getting sick. Germs get introduced and your body then builds up antibodies. Now your body has a way to fight them off. You either don't get sick or you don't get as ill as you would of. Like when they inject the live flu virus. Thats pretty nasty stuff. So you won't eat a germ but you let a nasty filthy germ get injected into your body. How many years have you tasted grapes from a bag in the store? You are still alive to write about it. Sure, if you have compromised immune system that is different. The store knows people taste grapes and they are good with it. If you like them you will buy a bigger bunch. More sales, whereas you'll buy less if you don't know if they are good. If you think its stealing then don't taste them. The rest of us pinching a grape for taste I think is alright. Catching a horrible disease off a grape is one in several million or is it a billion. That reminds me I need to play the Lottery my odds are better than dying from eating a grape in the store.
My Mama, who was a very clean woman, said, "If a little nastiness would kill us, we'd all be dead". Truer words were never spoken.
1. I don't know that anyone has ever died of a disease contracted from sampling grapes in a grocery store.
2. I believe it likely that many people have suffered minor and maybe serious illnesses due to contracting colds and flu from sampling contaminated grapes. While the airborne pathogens responsible for these illnesses is probably the most likely source of contraction, I'm sure there is a higher concentration of these pathogens on the carrier's hands.
3. Years ago at the onset of 'Modern Medicine' surgeons did not wear surgical gloves. There were none. Neither did they wash their hands between surgery patients. There had to be an enormous amount of pathogen transfer from patient to patient. Yet today, a person chances of dying from complications of surgery is far less than then. Isn't that strange?
4. I guess my physician has it all wrong. His main interest is keeping me healthy. Yet as soon as he enters the exam room, the first thing he does is wash his hands. He will not even shake hands with me until he has washed his hands.
You say "Germs is (sic) what also keep us safe from getting sick". If that is so, and if my physician wants me to stay safe from getting sick, he shouldn't wash his hands before examining me. Instead, he should leave the germs from the last patient on his hands. That way, I would be exposed to that person's germs, and that should help me stay safe from getting sick. Maybe I should switch physicians.
5. Oprah had a guest on her show who was in the public health field. He stated that, more than popcorn, soda, candy and the like, the most prevalent foreign substance found on a movie theater seat was fecal matter. Makes you wonder how many movie goers who innocently brush pop corn from the seat before sitting down, go home with traces of someone else's shit on their hands. (Not to mention eating their own pop corn with soiled hands).
6. Ingestion of traces of someones else s fecal matter is risky. More than likely, you will suffer no ill effects. There are certain religious sects in India which require the regular consumption of small amounts of feces. I haven't read that the lifespan of these sect's members is any shorter than average. The risk is that it is possible to contract a deadly disease, by doing so. Dear Fellow Member, some germs are so violent they can kill you before your body has a chance to make antibodies against them.
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What we have here is Principal. I agree that one could sample grapes for a lifetime and suffer no ill effects. But, by doing so, they are likely to expose themselves to other people's nasal secretions, cerumen (ear wax), sebum (body oils) and other bodily secretions such as smegma and yes, feces.
If a person's principals are such that ingesting these substances are of no concern to them, then so be it.
I am far from alone in that I choose not to ingest these substances, even if there is not a chance in hell I'll get sick from doing so. It's a matter of principal.
Suum cuique
I'm going to add one more comment to this post. My concern is that in the past, one bag of grapes was opened. The customer could sample from that bag, or not. They still had the option of buying a bag that had not been rummaged through by several people. Now, with all the bags left open, the customer does not have the option of taking home a bag of grapes that has not been fingered by several nasty handed people. I deserve to be able to buy a bag of grapes that has not been, at least, partially used.
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