Grocery Shopping with Joe Guy

[Joe Guy]

So I went into Safeway this early afternoon because I wanted to buy two cucumbers. They happen to be to the right of the green beans. As I approached the area there was a guy who was obviously there for the green beans. He was talking to them as he was going through them with his bare hands. Picking them up by the handful and then plucking one or two, looking at them and then tossing them aside. He seemed to be arguing with some of them. He was grabbing beans here, there and everywhere, occasionally throwing a couple of them into his plastic produce bag. Before he was done I have no doubt that he touched nearly every single green been in the bin.

So there I was; a has-been standing near a person who should be in a loony bin by the green bean bin.

I really wanted to kick him in his ass real hard just to make myself feel better. He was wearing a mask though. Ain't that great?

After imagining a few ways that I could cause the idiot cruel and unusual pain I walked over to the cucumbers, grabbed a produce bag and, as usual, used the bag as a glove and sorted through a couple before bagging two of them without touching any of them - even the two I bought - and walked away leaving no DNA, bacteria, viruses or other type of crazy communicable shit behind.

It's extremely difficult being a model senior citizen in the age of me-ism. Nobody notices how thoughtful I am. Nobody cares. Sometimes I'm feeling as though my relevancy expiration date is approaching or has already expired...

[BoSoxGal]

Your technique sounds very hygienic, but most folks are going to touch produce when they pick it out - perhaps not as much as the guy conversing with the haricot vert.

Always wash your produce well! A good soak in vinegar solution will remove most pesticide residue AND bacteria from the skin of produce. But don’t use this method with berries.

[Burning Petard]

As for me, the basic with fresh green beans is to blanch them--cover them briefly with vigorously boiling water. Touch all the cucumbers, make no difference to me. I always peel them.
snailgate.

[BoSoxGal]

I used to peel cucumbers, but the rind is so good for you! Almost all of the nutritional value of cucumbers is in the rind and the seeds. And the rind makes the salad pretty, too.

I typically wash cucumbers with a little bit of soapy water because the wax on them is often pretty substantial. I just make sure all the soap is rinsed off so they don’t taste funny.

[Long Run]

My son works at Safeway. Based on his stories, never ever buy any bakery product that is not bagged by store employees (e.g., donuts, bagels, fresh bread loaves, etc.). This, of course, applies to other grocery stores as well, though you may be fortunate enough to be in one of the few zip codes that has no such sanitary issues.

[TPFKA@W]

Germaphobe Joe. You should take heart in knowing that your belly is full of hydrochloric acid which aids in protecting you from crazy green-bean man’s germs. Were it not the case human beans would be extinct by now.

[Joe Guy]

Germaphobe Joe. You should take heart in knowing that your belly is full of hydrochloric acid which aids in protecting you from crazy green-bean man’s germs. Were it not the case human beans would be extinct by now.

I'm not a germophobe. During a pandemic I expect people to be extra aware and thoughtful about handling food and other things in a grocery store. Besides, by the time those COVID virus infected beans would have reached my acid-filled stomach, little COVID creatures would have already infected my mouth and nose. And who knows what other type of creeping crud is on people's hands and trapped in their nose-picking fingernails?

[BoSoxGal]

Germaphobe Joe. You should take heart in knowing that your belly is full of hydrochloric acid which aids in protecting you from crazy green-bean man’s germs. Were it not the case human beans would be extinct by now.

I'm not a germophobe. During a pandemic I expect people to be extra aware and thoughtful about handling food and other things in a grocery store. Besides, by the time those COVID virus infected beans would have reached my acid-filled stomach, little COVID creatures would have already infected my mouth and nose. And who knows what other type of creeping crud is on people's hands and trapped in their nose-picking fingernails?

For many months now CDC has advised that there is minimal risk of catching covid19 from food surfaces - assuming you aren’t touching the food and then touching your eyeball or sticking your fingers up your nose. Same with the packaging of take out food, etc. In your mouth and down your gullet is a death sentence for covid19 - in your mouth and into your lungs is another thing altogether, but thank goodness we don’t inhale our food, we’d have aspiration pneumonia in no time if we did.

It always makes sense to wash produce though, because it can be a vehicle for E. coli or salmonella, among other unfriendly bacteria. Most people can tolerate exposure to E. coli or salmonella without becoming seriously ill, but the older we get the less capable our gut and immune system are at neutralizing such invaders when they come in on a salad green - or haricot vert.

[Joe Guy]

For many months now CDC has advised that there is minimal risk of catching covid19 from food surfaces - assuming you aren’t touching the food and then touching your eyeball or sticking your fingers up your nose. Same with the packaging of take out food, etc. In your mouth and down your gullet is a death sentence for covid19 - in your mouth and into your lungs is another thing altogether, but thank goodness we don’t inhale our food, we’d have aspiration pneumonia in no time if we did.

It always makes sense to wash produce though, because it can be a vehicle for E. coli or salmonella, among other unfriendly bacteria. Most people can tolerate exposure to E. coli or salmonella without becoming seriously ill, but the older we get the less capable our gut and immune system are at neutralizing such invaders when they come in on a salad green - or haricot vert.

It's probably more visually disgusting than it is contagious but I think if the guy that I saw actually had COVID or the flu or some other contagious disease and I went over and handled food that he had just smeared with his filthy fingers, chances of my being attacked by his disease would have been higher than average.

Anyway, I always wash produce, which I'm sure (almost) everybody does, because I don't like the idea of eating something that has been handled by who knows how many people and set out in public for hours or days. It just makes sense.

[dales]

My son works at Safeway. Based on his stories, never ever buy any bakery product that is not bagged by store employees (e.g., donuts, bagels, fresh bread loaves, etc.). This, of course, applies to other grocery stores as well, though you may be fortunate enough to be in one of the few zip codes that has no such sanitary issues.

I've seen people reach into the glassed off donut display and reach for a donut with their bare hands.

Even though there were plastic gloves nearby for just such a use.

Pigs!

[Gob]

Green beans, yuk!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Plastic gloves don't help when I put bad ones back in the showcase

[Sue U]

I confess: I handle the produce with my bare hands. I grab green beans by the handful and toss the ones with nasty ends back in the bin. I handle the tomatoes to see if they are bruised/gashed before putting them in a bag. I pick through the bunches of cilantro and parsley to find the ones least stomped on. I examine the lettuce and asparagus in search of the freshest. I make no apology for being fussy about my produce. If you're worried about germs in the supermarket, they've got hand sanitizer stands and wipes all over the place these days, and you're going to wash the fruits and veggies before you eat them anyway. If you're gonna worry, you should worry more about what's left on the produce by the pickers and packers who have no toilet facilities in the fields, moreso than your fellow shoppers. Keep your fingers out of your mouth/nose and you'll be fine.

[Bicycle Bill]

... they've got hand sanitizer stands and wipes all over the place these days...

Since the start of the COVID crisis and the dispenser stations becoming so ubiquitous, my body has absorbed so much hand sanitizer that nowadays when I take a whiz, I'm also disinfecting the toilet.

-"BB"-

[eddieq]

Since the start of the COVID crisis and the dispenser stations becoming so ubiquitous, my body has absorbed so much hand sanitizer that nowadays when I take a whiz, I'm also disinfecting the toilet.

-"BB"-

So THAT's why it burns when I pee? Those army training films were wrong

[Joe Guy]

I confess: I handle the produce with my bare hands. I grab green beans by the handful and toss the ones with nasty ends back in the bin. I handle the tomatoes to see if they are bruised/gashed before putting them in a bag. I pick through the bunches of cilantro and parsley to find the ones least stomped on. I examine the lettuce and asparagus in search of the freshest.....

My problem is with people doing what you're doing during a pandemic when people should be more aware and extra careful about what they are touching in a public setting. I've always picked through produce without actually touching it with my hands and will continue to do so. It's too bad I'm part of a small minority but there's nothing I can do about that.

.... If you're gonna worry, you should worry more about what's left on the produce by the pickers and packers who have no toilet facilities in the fields, moreso than your fellow shoppers....

I'm much more concerned about my fellow shoppers. Fruits and vegetables are probably handled by the most people after they are within the stores in which they are sold.

In regards to those cleaning wipes and sprays at grocery stores, sometimes they look more likely to infect me than any cart or person would. At the beginning of the pandemic - and even before that - stores were very good at keeping things clean and hand wipes were always available. For at least six months after the pandemic rules were put into place Safeway had people at the entrance that would spray everyone's hands with sanitizer before allowing them into the store. Other stores had well monitored cleaning stations out front. Now it seems that all grocery stores that I go to have become less sanitary than they were at the pandemic peak. The only good thing is they're still requiring masks to go inside stores in my county.

Oh well. This was probably a waste of a post......

[BoSoxGal]

To be honest, I’d much rather people touch the produce in the process of buying it than to have so many layers of plastic between us and our produce - the plastic is a definite serious negative for the planet, while the potential of getting sick from the produce being handled is far less likely ever to cause harm.

Wash your produce well, especially if it comes from the south, to protect yourself from rat lungworm - and E. coli salmonella or whatever other yuckies might end up on your produce when it’s out there growing in the place called nature that is full of creepy crawlies viruses and bacteria.

[rubato]

I've not seen any significant evidence proving transmission of covid by touch. And tpf&c is right that stomach acid (usu pH1) is effective in killing most microbes. That is why it took so long for that nice Aus. pathologist to convince people that most stomach ulcers were caused by H.pylori (for which he got a nobel).

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

It is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low.

[ex-khobar Andy]

You're kind of both right. There's a theoretical risk of transmission - studies have shown the virus can survive on, and be picked up from, smooth surfaces, but there have been very few actual transmissions ascribed to that route. It's impossible to prove anyway because by the time the symptoms emerge the contact and the surface are long gone.

And BTW stomach acid is usually much nearer to pH 2 than pH 1. The difference is a factor of 10 because pH is a logarithmic scale (and yes, Rube, I know you know).