I know, I know, it seems bad, but hear me out - what we’ve got here is a whole 'nother surface, it’s put in the washer just like anything else - so why not use it? I mean, it does give the friendly cafeteria people less stuff to wash. So, what I want to know is - is there some hygenic benefit to using plates, or are we all just taken up by the evil utensil conspiracy?
Most STDs are caught by eating off cafeteria trays
I think its mostly aesthetics. Plates help keep the gravy out of the jello.
My pet peeve is the general public’s hands reaching into the fork-spoon-knife bins and touching my silverware. I bring my own plastic to work. Color me paranoid.
Are you sure that it’s put into a washer? Around here, cafeteria trays are cleaned by wiping them with a warm, damp cloth. Since I don’t know where that cloth has been or what might be growing on it, I try very hard not to let my food touch the tray. If the tray has been through a washer though, I don’t think there’s any harm in eating food that falls on the tray.
Should be alright. Most places, It’s just as easy to put another dish, (the tray), into the washer. They’re just as clean as the plates.
Many newer ones have bins where the handle part of the silverware is sticking out, so other people would only touch the handle of your silverware, not the part that goes into your mouth. That should make you feel better.
Of course, that only applies if the cafeteria workers are using the bins correctly – I’ve often seen these used with the utensils put in them upside down; the tines of the fork or bowl of the spoon sticking out, and the handle down in the bottom of the bin. I suppose that’s easier for them; they can see immediately what utensils go in what bin. But it does result in everybody pawing over the working (mouth-inserted) part of the utensil while picking them up.
But frankly, this is being a bit unrealistic. You’re exposed to a whole lot more germs in other everyday situations. For example, touching the same doorknob that everyone else has been touching all day. Silverware & plates are washed before every use – how often do they wasf doorknobs in your office?
If the trays are fully washed, then yes, I’d say it is as safe as a plate, but as Jeep’s Phoenix says, sometimes, the tray is only wiped with a cloth - often only the top surface too, then it is stacked in a way that makes transfer possible from the unwiped bottom of the tray that rests on top.
I’d say that in these cases (where it is only wiped), eating off the tray is probably about as safe as eating directly off the table and marginally more safe than eating off a fairly clean floor.
Most of the risk of food poisoning comes from eating food that has been improperly stored - most likely no harm would arise from a fairly small sample of pathogenic bacteria applied to your food just before you eat it, as the body of a healthy adult can quickly overcome small influxes of bacteria - the problem occurs when food contains larger amounts of contamination - i.e. when the bacteria are given the necessary conditons for runaway reproduction (Warmth, moisture, food, time).
I’ve worked at two fast-food emporiums in my lifetime. At one, the trays were put in the dishwasher. The other didn’t have a dishwasher. In the evenings, the trays were washed with the three basin method like all the utensils, etc. - washed, rinsed, and then sterilized - but during the day when more were needed, the dirty trays were just wiped down and reused. The cloth started out clean…
I don’t eat directly off trays.
In college I’d often eat dorm food directly off the trays in some sickening attempt to give the food a setting befitting of its nastiness.
The trays had the same nasty bleach scent as everything else, surely indicating they were washed.
I’ve worked at a couple cafeteria-type places in my lifetime, and neither of them washed the trays in the dishwasher. We just wiped them down with the same cloth that we used to wipe around the soda machines, the grungy food-prep areas, etc. Although there was bleach in the water we used to wipe them down, there was still the chance that some food particles would be left on the tray afterwards.
I sure wouldn’t eat off those trays. But hey, if you like bleached food crumbs that have fallen from other people’s mouths, go for it.