Wednesday, April 21, 2010

getting desensitized

I've been working at a coffee shop part time for the past several weeks, and I'm afraid it's having a negative impact on my commitment to living plastic-free.

We just use so much plastic! All the time. And I quickly stop noticing, it so quickly becomes automatic.

The first time I noticed was when I grabbed a day old muffin to eat on the way home after work. We bake muffins every day, and at the end of the night any muffins left over (usually only one or two, if any) get wrapped in plastic and put on a plate to be sold the next day as 'day olds'. So one day I was on my way to another job and needed a snack to get me there so I grabbed a day old muffin, plastic wrap and all. Didn't even think twice about it.

Not buying plastic-wrapped food is one of the EASIEST things to do to cut down on plastic consumption! And here I was, not even thinking about it.

The other day I caught myself using a rubber glove to mix the scone batter.

And here we come back to a something I posted about earlier: food safety.

If I'm using my hands to mix scone batter, is it ok if they are just well washed? Or should I use the rubber (plastic?) glove? Which would you rather have touching your scone before you eat it?

3 comments:

  1. if you're just making scones at home for family and friends then i reckon washing hands first is probably enought.
    i spose at the cafe though there's stringent food and health safety guidelines the business is obligated to abide to and that often involves the use of disposable plastic gloves.
    personally though i reckon as long as you guys are regularly handwashing with soap and/or handsandiser it should be fine. besides i'm off the opinion that we're WAY to clean these days anyway!

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  2. Hello Margery,
    Mom the foodsafe guru here. Gloves are no better than hands if they are not used effectively. If your busness does not have a rule about gloves, you dont need to use them. Proper handwashing techniques effectively reduce possibility of contamination. Unless you are working with raw meat, ( and I personally still think effective hand washing is enough unless you have enfected cuts or burns) there is no need for gloves.

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  3. Mom, I KNEW I could count on you to comment here!

    I actually want to have a serious phone conversation with you here soon to refresh my memory about a bunch of this stuff, if we could.

    And yeah, I kind of knew hand washing is sufficient. That's what was so strange about me just reaching for the gloves. I just didn't want to get my hands all gooky, and suddenly I found myself with gloves on my hands looking down and thinking, "what on earth did I just do that for? OH NO! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME! I"M FORGETTING ALL I BELIEVE IN" well, maybe not that melodramatic, but still.

    I used gloves last night also, but that's because i was butchering a chicken and I had a cut on my hand that I wanted to avoid getting covered in chicken juice if possible.

    Thanks for your comments, guys!

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