My 'oh geed' moment

THE EDITOR: Earlier this week, my husband and I enjoyed one of the few joys of growing old — we went to Las Cuevas beach for a lime. This was unheard of during our working years. On our way home we stopped off at a very popular bake and shark outlet at Maracas Bay to buy lunch.

When I approached the window, the female employee took my order and placed the fried shark into the bakes. Then, she took my money and made change. As I eagerly took the tray, I noticed that she began to serve the next customer WITHOUT WASHING HER HANDS! She had just handled my money and was now handling someone else's food.

In this era of covid19 panic, one of the very basic tenets of food handling was ignored. Why bother to panic and rush to hoard bleach, hand sanitizer, and surgical masks, if basic hand washing techniques, especially by a food handler, are ignored?

This is only one incident which I experienced first hand. What about the many doubles vendors, the pudding and souse vendors and other food sellers? Do they have someone else to handle money or do they wash their own hands between handling money and preparing food?

It may not be convenient but it could save lives. There are so many small food vendors in TT and they all ought to do the right thing, rather than wait to be inspected and told to do so by some official authority. We’re all adults here! We shouldn’t have to have an authority figure standing over us at all times. For heaven's sake, do the right thing — wash your hands, even if no one is looking.

JANICE SEATON

Santa Cruz