by Janet Jenson

Created on: July 28, 2007   Last Updated: November 25, 2010

A Pound of Dirt?

Eating out is fun, but as a compulsive hand-washer, I totally freak out when I see the workers in any restaurant come out of the restroom without washing their hands. This is happening far too often these days. It is even worse when a complaint to the manager elicits nothing more than a shrug.

That is why I usually choose types of food that are well-cooked and do not require handling afterward. In my view, then, this is one of several reasons why it could be that fast food eateries are generally a bit safer than some of the more sophisticated restaurants: we can see the food being prepared and make informed choices. Despite the junk-food label, a batch of fries goes right from the cooking pot into the scoop and into my bag untouched by human hands.

By contrast, in some supposedly "nice" restaurants I've noticed workers grasping glassware by the rims or reaching into a bin to grab ice cubes with their bare hands.

Another plus in being able to see the food prepared in front of our eyes is that you know even before ordering anything whether the workers are wearing gloves or not.

Fast food items do not sit around on the shelf, either, as the establishments are rather strictly regulated and expiration dates are often stamped right on the packing. That is another thing you can see for yourself.

Recently, however, I noticed something appalling at one of my hitherto favorite fast food joints. The company that cleans the restaurant's floor mats sent a man in who slapped the dirty rugs around so much while trying to pick them up that he not only got all the new rugs dirty from the soil that flew off the old ones, but he also scattered a huge haze of dirt and dust into the air right next to a dozen lunch-time diners. How could one have predicted this?

Despite the well-planned assembly-line manner of preparing and presenting food, standardized in compliance with many codes and regulations, this restaurant was preparing wonderful food and then contaminating it post-purchase! Since then, I read somewhere that only one square yard of commercial rug can trap a full pound of dirt in less than a week.

Some of us remember being told as children that "we all have to eat a pound of dirt before we die" but I certainly don't want to eat mine all at once!

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