Community Chat

[cherry]

I get my fruit from a store, that employs someone I know personally,  in the produce dept. They are responsible for  doing the cutting of fruit .and packaging it.

[Anonymous032819]

I admit that I will occasionally buy a package or two of watermelon chunks, but what I don't like is then I am dealing with more plastic.

We as a nation are addicted to plastic, and I am right there too. I'm no better.

It's hard to get away from.

I'd rather deal with rind, which is natural, than plastic, which isn't.

When I do buy whole melons, I usually will get the small "personal" watermelon, although I do miss seeing watermelon that weighed 10+ pounds.

I also miss when my family would grow them ourselves when I was a child.

Those were the best!

[Bri369]

There is cut up fresh fruit at the salad bar.  There is also cut up fruit bowls available to purhase at Marianos and Whole Foods.  Those stores cut up the fruit themselves.  They're not shipped to the store cut. 

[cherry]

I worry far less about cut melon, than things like spinach ,that has been on recall ,for being contaminated with sewage . This has happened a lot of times

The inside of the melon was clean, and not contaminated  , because of the rind. If the store uses approved methods of cutting and packaging, I feel quite safe

With spinach is is very dicey, You eat the entire plant ,and if it is dirty ,out in the fields,  you going to be sick

[Anonymous032819]

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@Bri369 wrote:

There is cut up fresh fruit at the salad bar.  There is also cut up fruit bowls available to purhase at Marianos and Whole Foods.  Those stores cut up the fruit themselves.  They're not shipped to the store cut. 

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That's great, but not every town or community has those stores, and in the stores in my area, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one here, they are packaged and shipped in plastic containers.

For example, look at this ad from Safeway where it says "Fresh Cut Produce". What is that watermelon in? It is in a plastic bowl.

'

And would you eat melon from an open salad bar, when it's been out for who knows how long, and had who knows how many people sneezing and coughing around it?

I know that I wouldn't.

[Anonymous032819]

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@cherry wrote:

I worry far less about cut melon, than things like spinach ,that has been on recall ,for being contaminated with sewage . This has happened a lot of times

The inside of the melon was clean, and not contaminated  , because of the rind. If the store uses approved methods of cutting and packaging, I feel quite safe

With spinach is is very dicey, You eat the entire plant ,and if it is dirty ,out in the fields,  you going to be sick

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@cherry 

I hear what you are saying, I really do, but from my own personal experience, and I am only talking about myself here, and in no way about any and everyone else, but I have eaten both packaged and fresh spinich, and have never gotten sick.

Maybe I have been lucky, maybe I have a good immune system, who knows, but as I said, after having had both fresh and packaged spinich, I have not gotten sick.

[Cakers3]

@Anonymous032819 

  Don't forget how the tongs are handled and then put down right on top of the food. 

I saw a customer drop tongs on the floor, pick it up, and put it right back on whatever food he was getting-I took it and gave it to an employee.

Ick.

[cherry]

@Cakers3  @Anonymous032819  plus how clean were the hands on the tongs, and how many hands used them?

I have told this story before and it is true. I am very leery of self serve because of this true incident. It happened out west. They had an influx of people living at a commune

There was a lot of tension between townies and communies..There was a big election and the people from the commune hatched a plot to win it

They went to all of the salad bars in the area with ecoli or salmonella  and contaminated all of the surfaces. They won the election because ,all of the commune  stayed away, and were well enough to vote..The townies all got deathly ill and some were in the hospital

We live in a dangerous world now. You never know  when someone might do this sort of thing

[Bri369]

I didn't say I eat the cut up fruit from the salad bar.  I merely said that there is fruit that is cut up by the store.  It does not get shipped to the store already cut.

I don't usualy buy pre-cut fruit.  I but whole fruit and cut it up at home.  I do not trust salad bars and things like that.  People are disgusting.  AT Marianos, they have a Hot Bar where they sell chicken, potatoes, mac and cheese, and other hot dishes.  People grab food all the time.  I avoid those at all costs. 

[wagirl]

If.......I could ever pick out ripe, delicious melons I would buy them whole to cut up.   I am sure that the cut up stuff in the containers was cut using the same knife on all the fruit/veggies and I am sure that they were not even rinsed before being prepared. I scrub the rind of most things with dishsoap and a brush before I cut into them. Got into that habit during chemo when any little bug could have made me very sick. Now of course, that means things with hard rinds. A little more time consuming  but at least I know things are cleaner and safer, hopefully.