Bulk Food Warning

Personally I am a fan of the bulk food section of the various supermarkets in town. Bulk food is good because you can buy as much or as little as you like. I’m sure we all know this. And I’m sure that a lot of people know that society is big on OH&S and safe practices, etc, etc, sanitation and hygiene (except in the CS building) and all that. So I was quite surprised to see an employee at Sobeys using her bare hand to scoop out and arrange the bulk foods. First it was the dried bananas (that I saw) and then it was some sort of nut, I’m not sure, I wasn’t right beside her. But essentially she was going down the line and refilling the bins that needed it. Personally, I’m sure that she is a nice, clean person and we don’t have anything to worry about, but I’m surprised that gloves aren’t required for that. It’s not like a box of cereal where everything is safely nestled inside, these things are the very same things that you put in you mouth. Like Swedish Berries. Mmmm.

The second, potentially more concerning fact is that a lot of the bulk food section contains nuts, which get handled and then other non-nut foods are handled, essentially transferring nut dust (you know what I’m talking about) to the other foods. Then Mr. Nut Allergy comes along - grabs his Swedish Berries (or fuzzy peaches), goes home, eats a couple and wakes up in the morning, dead. No one wants to have that on their hands now do they? I’m not personally allergic to anything (that I know about - other than cats) so maybe Mr. Nut Allergy plays things safe and avoids the bulk foods on principle or maybe isn’t that sensitive to the nut dust. Or maybe I should work on that work term report