On my first trip to India in a five star hotel restaurant, my soup tipped over the dirty hands of the elderly man serving me. the next day my taxi driver offered me a slicc of some fruit he was eating. I said thank you. He passed it to me with his unwashed and visibly dirty hands. Twenty-four hours later I was down with Delhi belly - diarrhea.
I was ill next day with diarrhea and missed one of my two days in the city which was the highlight of my trip, which had cost a lot of time and money.
Back in London, England, I was ill for ages.
For years I remembered both the two incidents of uncleanliness, plus the illness, but only rarely do I link the two, the dirty hands and the diarrhea. Now, writing this, I think back and wonder what I could have done.
The obvious answers are:
1 Carry drinking water to wash fruit.
2 Carry wet wipes to wipe my own hands before eating.
3 Explain my concerns about washing hands and fruit and handling food with napkins food long before I am actually handed food.
4 In public places put up a reminder sign over food tables pointing to hand washing and free water.
But sickness can strike you in clean countries, cruise ships, five star hotels, conferences and meetings.
Even if the food is prepared properly, what about that buffet style food? At lunch time or break time, out comes the finger food. UK or Singapore, it is the same at Toastmasters clubs.
Refreshment Time Warning
Singapore is reputed to be a clean country. But what about when you are eating food? You are likely to eat food in restaurants, and at meetings, and at the homes of friends and business associates.
Too many people pass you a slice of spring roll, a piece of pie, or cake, using their fingers.
''Scuse fingers?" they sometimes say, hopefully.
Wales
Back in Britain, in Wales, at Writers' Holiday in Fishguard, at Fishguard Bay Hotel, at morning break time we are served cups of tea. All very clean.
But then we help ourselves to a plate of biscuits. I have rushed straight from the painting class into the adjacent dining room. Now that I come to think about it, I should be washing my hands after painting and before eating the break time biscuit.
UK
Sometimes, at Writers' Summer School, at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, England, you have a choice and can take biscuits which are individually wrapped. Why? At first I thought it was to stop the melting chocolate making biscuits stick together. It seems like overkill.
Singapore
In Singapore, you are sometimes offered individually wrapped cakes. They have lists of ingredients on the back. Handy for those suffering from nut allergies or diabetics needing to avoid sugar or on weight loss diets.
But, isn't wrapping every piece a waste of time and resources such as paper or synthetic wrapping? Yes. - until you think about handling food.
Scuse fingers?
No, I don't.
Why don't I?
1 Firstly, you have your perspiration, and other people's, from shaking hands with everybody.
2 Secondly, you have just touched door handles and light switches and don't have clean hands.
3 Studies in school comparing groups of children who washed hands with those who didn't find a higher number of coughs and colds among the group who did not wash their hands. Even if you don't have a cold now, you could be passing on germs.
4 Numerous government signs and brochures warn everybody that those of certain age group, over 50 or over 60, are more vulnerable to infection. You and most of the group are able to withstand the risk of infection. I am not.
5 I am later in contact with relatives who are in recovery from cancer treatment and have an immune system which is down.
6 I am frequently shocked that those who work in the health service and can see the effects of illness and read the official advice and the evidence, fail to wash their hands, buy healthy foods, or give health foods to others.
What should they do instead?
1 If you are buying food and paper plates, remember the tissues. so people can tissues.
2 Supply hand washing or wet wipes.
3 Or tell people the location of the toilets and wash basins.
Hand Washing For Groups
If you are organising an event at which people will be sharing food and eating with fingers, have a bowl of water for hand washing and a towel or better still series of towels or paper for hand drying.
Serving Utensils
Provide serving utensils. You can cut the length of queues (Americans call them line ups) speed up service in a short break by having food tables away from the walls, so that people can pass on both sides of the table. In this case, you need two sets of serving spoons in each bowl, in order to prevent those in a hurry from putting their hands into the communal bowl, or passing food back to others with unwashed hands.
Hold crockery with the finger tips of both hands, instead of the thumb and finger of your right hand with the thumb extending over the eating area of a plate or bowl.
We are bombarded with requests to save water and save paper in order to save trees. We can do that, but not at the expense of having days of work, and missing half our holiday and business travel trip through catching avoidable illnesses.
Maybe I should make myself a badge, and hand out badges saying, "I am over 50 and susceptible to germs. Please use utensils, not fingers, when passing food. Thank you."
I could just make two badges and leave them sitting on the table.
Singapore and Halal
One advantage of the halal restaurants in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia is that they have a washbasin near the eating area, outside the toilet area. This enables you to wash your hands easily.
Global hand washing day is October 15th. We should be washing hands every day.
USA
The American slogan is Clean Hands Save Lives.
Websites
Blogs
https://info.debgroup.com/blog/keep-colds-away-this-winter-with-an-effective-hand-hygiene-programme
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-not-to-pass-bread-pizza-slices-or.html
International Views
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Handwashing_Day
USA Official Advice
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/index.html
UK Official Government Advice
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/we-are-counting-on-you-to-wash-your-hands
Singapore Studies
https://www.smu.edu.sg/perspectives/2015/05/27/washing-hands-saving-lives
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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