EVERYONE Has 20 Seconds!

I have to tell you, I'm not a strict germaphobe like Howie Mandel, but I completely understand and respect why he and many others are. 

I took an exceedingly well done two day, (all day both days) food certification course back in the mid-90's in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) taught by a woman who was tough, blunt, impactful and taught us all very well the vigilance necessary in executing safe food service.

The first morning, she asked for three volunteers.  She had each volunteer take a sterile swab (giant Q-tip looking things) and she had one person swab their mouth, another their ear and the third, their nose. 

Then she took each swab and gave it a swipe on its own petri dish, placed the lids on and put them out the next morning for us to see as we grabbed our complimentary coffee and donuts.  WOW!  

It was unreal (disgusting) how much bacteria from each person's swipe grew, in just 24 hours. 

She then tied in how when you prepare food and scratch that itchy ear or pick your nose or cough in your hand and don't wash your hands properly after doing these things, this is what you are depositing into peoples food and the result is horrible illness, and sometimes death, to the tune of 11 million* cases a year. 

All of which, were 100% preventable with proper observation of simple but effective, sanitary measures. 

*That stat was from my training in 1995.  More recent figures by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

[CDC estimates that each year roughly 48 million people gets sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die.] 

To read the CDC.gov article, click this link:

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html

This is a subject that I am going off on due to twice having to go to the E.R. for severe food poisoning.  This is the reason why...

When I am in a public restroom and people come out of the stall and go straight out, I'm appalled. 

When they go to the sink and run water for 3 seconds and use no soap, I'm appalled. 

When they use soap but don't really work it around their hands and fingers (and under their nails if they have long fingernails) and rinse it off before it can be effective, I'm appalled. 

I'm appalled because these same people are now going to go touch the same fruit and other products and checkout area in the store that you and I are going to touch. 

Essentially, they've just let me and you,

wipe their butts, when they do that. 

I'm not kidding.  Yes it's gross, vulgar, etc...but it is true. 

When a person goes to the bathroom and is disgusting enough to not wash their hands afterwards for the 20 seconds with soap and warm water necessary to kills germs that is exactly what they are doing. 

I had a roommate once that I watched come out of the powder room immediately after flushing the toilet and due to the smell that followed her, it was obvious what she'd just done...she walked straight to the kitchen sink to wash her hands! 

I said "What are you doing???" she said "Washing my hands."  I said, "Why on earth are you doing it out here instead of in there?"  She said "What does it matter? I'm washing them!" I said "It matters because when you wiped your butt and then touched the door handle, you left your germs on it AND now on the kitchen faucet too and that's disgusting!  It's like I'm wiping your butt!" 

Thus, if you are someone reading this and you do as she does, let me ask you one question:  Would YOU wipe other peoples butts? 

If the answer is a resounding no, THEN STOP HAVING SUCH GROSS PERSONAL HABITS THAT SPREAD YOUR GERMS TO EVERYONE ELSE!

Again, I know that this is anything but tactful but if that is what it takes to wake up such lazy, germ spreading ignoramuses, then I have no problem being vulgar because their gross, germ and disease spreading laziness is far more vulgar than me calling them out on it.  

20 seconds is the (least) amount of time

we should spend to properly wash and sanitize our hands to reduce and prevent the spread of germs and diseases. 

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253

Still prefer to be lazy and dirty?  Here you go:

Shigella - Causes an estimated 448,000 cases of diarrhea illnesses per year. Poor hygiene causes Shigella to be easily passed from person to person and from infected individuals to food items. Sources: salads, unclean water, and any food handled by someone who is infected with the bacterium.

Norovirus- The leading viral cause of diarrhea in the United States. Poor hygiene causes Norovirus to be easily passed from person to person and from infected individuals to food items. Sources: Any food contaminated by someone who is infected with this virus.

These two definitions were copied from this eye opening site:

http://www.fightbac.org/about-foodborne-illness/least-wanted-pathogens

The Mystery of 6 Diners Who All Became Ill

Although I don't remember the name of the woman who taught my intensive two full day food safety and sanitation training in the 90's, I will never forget all that she taught so impactfully.

This is the story I promised to share in my Bible-based life coach book "GOD & The Many Things in The Bible That Surprised Me".

Six people got horrendously ill from dining at the same restaurant and they reported it to the Allegheny County Health Department.  (Pittsburgh, PA) 

When the health department does an investigation, they are often able to attribute food-borne illnesses in multiple cases that occur the same day, to people consuming the same dish that wasn't cooked per health department guidelines. 

However, in this particular case, all 6 diners ordered entirely different meals; thus, that common connection didn't exist. 

A couple of the lunches were not even cooked items; they were salads; thus, that common connection also didn't exist.

Next they looked at the ice machine because there are certain bacteria that are resistant to freezing temperatures and live in ice machines. 

However, once again they were foiled because not all of the 6 diners drank cold beverages with ice; thus, that common connection also got ruled out as the culprit. 

They also factored in that no other diners that day became ill.

After further investigation, it was finally realized what the one commonality each meal had: the food expediter. 

In case you have never worked in a restaurant, a food expediter is the person who stands on the line where the plates come up and they add whatever finishing touches are needed before the server  delivers them to diners. (Not all restaurants use an expediter.)

This can include adding lettuce, tomato and onion to burger platters or other garnishes such as parsley atop pasta dishes, etc. 

This particular expediter was a dirty and disgusting human being with no decency

who went to the bathroom and "had a movement" after which, THEY DID NOT BOTHER

TO WASH THEIR HANDS. 

Thus, their fecal bacteria

was now transferred to each

of the garnishes that they touched

as they handled each and every one

of the 6 diners meals.

This is what each meal, although different, had in common.  One filthy dirty lazy disgusting human being with no respect for proper hand washing procedures to prevent completely preventable food-borne illnesses that can and do kill people.

If you thought my comments above harsh, do you still feel that way?  If so, let it happen to you and you may change your mind. 

I have twice been put in the E.R. due to severe food-borne illnesses.  I won't detail their nastiness but I will say that when the second one occurred the E.R. nurse told me after they got my blood labs back that I had gone into "a state of ketoacidosis". 

And when I said "What's that?" he said that it meant my body had been so impacted by whatever I ate that it was eating my own muscle to stay alive.