Acceptable or Unhygienic?

I was brought up on a farm and I don't suppose we ever washed our hands unless there was visible mud or blood on them - don't remember being ill. I have to say I never think about germs - I believe you are supposed to wash your hands after touching an animal and as I have five dogs I don't think I would have any skin left on my hands if I did that. We are all different and what worries one person doesn't another. What comes first the antibodies due to all the germs encountered or a compromised immune system?

I'm quite relaxed and a bit 'old style' when it comes to hygiene at home but do have my own pet hates i.e. fresh bread & pastries on open display in supermarkets, the way TV chefs re-arrange & handle just cooked food (often after flicking back their hair or touching their face), and having to key in ones pin at the end of a long queue at an ATM (I now keep my gloves on).
Ps. I have an allergic re-action to the flu-jab despite being at risk and am always rather surprised relieved when I survive each winter.

Been to a Butchers today where the notice says, please ask for cooked meats before raw meats, great I though here's someone who knows about food handling, he then promptly used his bare hands to put my raw meat into a bag, didn't wash his hands and took my credit card off me with his hands covered in raw meat yuk!

Badenkate
And survived with no stomach upsets worth mentioning, no allergies, no skin problems
probably because you are healthy ??

I'm happy too.
But I hope I'm not smug and that I never forget that pride comes before a fall.

I'm more of the "don't worry about it" group. But I do wash my hands after anything to do with our chickens. Especially after having picked up a dish of leftovers that they had eaten, I absent mindedly licked my hand, and found I had eaten some chicken poo!
I had severe diarrhoea for a couple of days. Went to the doctor and she prescribed some non-antibiotic treatments.

Well, I have fed calves, cows, hens, dogs, cats, collected eggs, been asked to hold the chickens whilst they were killed when I was a child (no, that was a step too far!), plucked and drawn chickens, and I don't think we thought about washing our hands all the time in those days either so am not precious delicate or prone to hysteria.

But I am aware of good practice and don't particularly think that faeces and food are a good mix.

I guess you're implying that I'm smug Jalima. No, I'm not smug and I'm not cavalier with important areas of hygiene. I'm very careful with uncooked meat, particularly chicken; I also wash my hands before preparing or eating food; I am also very careful around babies. But I certainly don't carry antiseptic wipes around with me; I've never even thought about trolley handles - and, yes, my family and I are lucky enough to be healthy and I made sure that my children remained that way by eating their 'peck of dirt' when they were young without panicking every time they got dirty. It seems rather more than coincidence that the growth in products which clean '99% of all germs' has happened at the same time as an increase in childhood allergies, skin problems and possibly asthma.

[sigh]
Not meaning you in particular Badenkate, and yes, I hope my family is healthy and happy but I never take anything for granted any more.
I don't carry antiseptic wipes around with me either - although, looking at some toilets I think I should.
As some of the family live on a farm I'm sure they get their peck of dirt as I do when I visit them.
As I did when I was growing up.

But there are people on this thread who think that because someone may have to be a bit more careful for good reason then they are being over-cautious and ridiculous and should be a bit more gung-ho.

I suffer with an allergy to lipstick, caused in the first place by using a really old lipstick that I found in a drawer. I can now only use lip glosses and nothing with too much pigment. My doctor says old cosmetics are "the devil".
I've now got a minor infection in my eyelid caused by a scratch from an eye pencil. Am I just unlucky, really sensitive or do other people have these problems?

JessM - Dogs ON tables in pubs and picnic areas? I couldn't believe I was reading that sentence!

I remember somone telling me that when we flush the loo minute particles of faeces travel through the air so we should be careful were we keep our toothbrushes.. I don't know why that got to me but it did. My toothbrushes are now in a cabinet.

morethan2 thats why we have a lid on the loo

I agree with you about the lipstick. Cold sores would be one problem you might encounter.
My daughter contracted a very weird bug after she ( and 12 other vegetarians) got serious food poisoning at a wedding. The bug got into her system and caused her endless suffering for two and a half years. She has become paranoid about cleanliness as a result.

Spangles1963
Yes JessM is not alone! I saw a dog stretched out asleep on a picnic table at a NT property. It was a very large, very hairy dog.

When we came back after our walk he was still there, zonked out, perhaps he'd had some wine with his lunch.

ps it was a dry, sunny day, so what was wrong with the nice soft grass I do not know.

Balini keep the heid hen, there wisnae ony need fur that

She's right though!

Just a thought,but I think the sales assistant was putting herself more at risk than the customers. Provided that is that they do the proper thing and try the lipstick on the back of their hand rather than their lips. I hate to think what bacteria had been transferred from people's hands into her mouth. Yuk. I like to think I am fussy about hand hygiene,I ALWAYS wash my hands after using a public toilet (I'm frequently surprised at the number of people who don't) and am very fastidious about washing after preparing raw meat,or emptying the bin. But my DD goes a step further and ALWAYS uses antibacterial hand gel before eating while she is out,and tries to avoid touching handrails etc on buses or door handles,if she can possibly help it. But then,she does seem to be particularly susceptible to any stomach bugs going round. She has had the noro-virus 4 times in the last 4 years alone. 2 years ago,she had it,as did my DGD and my SIL. (We all live together). I was the only one left standing,despite dealing with puke several times. I honestly don't think I have ever had the noro-virus. My DD says I would be one of these people immune to some ghastly illness sweeping through the world,while everyone else is dropping like flies! I said that if that was the case,nature should have picked a specimen that was healthier in every other way,not someone suffering from several chronic health problems,and not in a position to 'preserve the future of mankind'!

Jalima - 'perhaps he'd had some wine with his lunch'.

I've seen people doing a complete make-up using the testers. What about handbags on tables in restaurants? A colleague pointed out that handbags are put on the floor, on pavements, on the floor of public transport. A friend who used to visit always put her handbag on my kitchen counter (but needless to say I never said anything). Whenever I come home I wash my hands before I do anything else. But on the whole I'm not obsessed by germs.

I think the most 'yuk' thing I have ever witnessed was quite a few years ago when me and my exH were visiting his brother. One of his brother's step-children,who must have been 10 or 11,put his muddy trainers in the kitchen sink,then proceeded to clean them with the washing-up sponge. When he'd finished,he just left the muddy sponge on the draining board for some unsuspecting person to use on the dishes until I put them straight.

Do you know, I've never thought anything about putting my handbags on a table or work surface, but yes, they often do spend time on a bus floor. I'm going to stop reading this thread, I think it could make me paranoid

Jalima, you mentioned posters saying that others are delicate. I did use the expression "delicate constitution" myself earlier and it really wasn't meant to be in any way critical. I just meant one that isn't robust, ie compromised in some way. Apologies if I've offended anyone

I dont think the shop assistant should be doing this, even though we test lipsticks on our hands, it doesnt look good for the store apart from anything else.
Talking of dummies I think its horrible when someone puts one in their mouth then straight into the childs mouth.

She should be reported to the management. Definitely not acceptable.

Ah, now on the dummy sucking scenario - I would have agreed that it is awful to suck the dummy then put it in your child's mouth, but apparently experts disagree.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10875756/Mothers-should-suck-their-babies-dummies-scientists-say.html