5 ms·

Anyone knowledge about the probabilities of getting infected from takeout / delivered food? Either via handling at the restaurant itself or en route. All indica

by yibg 7y ago

Anyone knowledge about the probabilities of getting infected from takeout / delivered food? Either via handling at the restaurant itself or en route. All indications are that the virus can survive quite a while on smooth surfaces like plastic bags.

nikanj 7y ago
The only thing I know, is the people making the food probably don’t get paid sick leave. With the huge demand in place for delivery food, the pressure is on from their bosses to keep coming in no matter how sick.
- nitwit005 7y ago
  I suspect most people have friends who have mentioned the same, so the overall trust level is likely fairly low. > Twelve percent of workers said they worked when they were sick with vomiting or diarrhea on two or more shifts during the last year. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ehsnet/plain_language/food-workers-working-when-sick.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ehsnet/plain_language/food-work...
- ericd 7y ago
  You can nuke the food in the microwave, supposedly that's been a common measure in China for delivery. You have to get it up to germ-killing temp throughout for it to be effective, though. Not great for sushi/salad takeout, obviously...
  - yibg 7y ago
    Would probably also be good to stay away from high touch food like Sushi. Someone's hands have literally been all over the food.
    - eloisant 7y ago
      Well, you would think people making sushi have really good hand hygiene. Otherwise you shouldn't get sushi from that place, epidemic or not.
- mikekchar 7y ago
  The opposite is likely true. For example, the big companies making bentos for the Japanese railway are having their workers come in only 2 days a week. There is no demand and therefore no work. If you are even remotely ill, there is no way you are going to get to work -- there is a healthy person who is desperate to get those hours.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    I think this is true in this case. I began trying to encourage people to get takeout because I heard staff talking about cutting staff hours because their sales are so bad. The local Denny's, normally open 24 hours, is only open 8am to 8pm. I saw one guy there working the register. There's normally multiple staff during the day.
DoreenMichele 7y ago
I have a lot of procedures in place for dealing with it if someone at the store coughed, sneezed, etc. Things get eaten promptly. We typically order as close to exactly as much as we will eat. We rarely keep leftovers. Trash always goes out promptly after the meal is finished. I don't even own a trash can. Everyone washes hands promptly. If there was an incident and we feel things are contaminated, we don't keep empty bags, leftover condiments, etc either. If everything is clean, we are willing to keep such things. There are some articles on HN talking about how long it can live on surfaces. You could use the search function to dig some up. Edit: here's one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22611099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22611099
- Lucadg 7y ago
  What if the pizza cardboard is contaminated by the delivery guy? Do you place it on the table anyway? What if someone infected coughed on the pizza itself? Or simply touched the edges to place it there? At the moment studies prove the virus stays in the air for a while but I couldn't find out whether it stays on surfaces or moving stuff makes it fly. I stopped even buying bread a month ago in my country when there were zero official cases for fear of contamination. Any info or procedure to make life easier is most welcome.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    I get takeout, not delivery. So either I'm handling it or one of my sons is handling it. I don't like delivery and rarely get food delivered (sometimes in hotels). I've read stories about delivery drivers sampling the food or otherwise not protecting it from germs. If you use Little Caesar's pizza portal, you pull it out of a warming oven yourself. Since it is in a warming oven, I'm guessing the heat will kill the germs. If you don't have other procedures in place already to handle other issues, I think Little Caesar's pizza portal is the safest "don't need to know much about germ control" option. If a place has staff that has bad habits, I stop going. I use self checkout and similar whenever possible. I usually pay with a card, not cash. Cash tends to be nasty stuff, especially paper money. I like my food super fresh. I like Little Caesar's in part because they make the dough fresh in house daily. No other major American pizza chain dies that and I tolerate their pizza better than other major chains. I can eat it more consistently, in part because the dough is fresh. Spices are medicinal. If you are concerned the food is a threat, order spicy foods or add spices. For pizza, red peppers are usually available in store. If you have no idea what is safe, skip getting paper napkins and trash all extra condiments and the like immediately. Don't keep them around. Take the trash out of the house immediately to whatever outside trash can you use. Promptly clean up thoroughly afterwards. Edit: I will add that staff at eateries are usually better trained in germ control than staff at most other establishments. Cashiers at other stores are a much bigger hazard in my experience and I do my best to use self checkout whenever possible because cashiers are so awful about doing things like licking their fingers to separate bags. You see that much less often in eateries in my experience. I bet we could enhance containment by just passing and enforcing strict rules for germ control for all cashiers. They are the absolute bane of my existence.
alonmower 7y ago
One thing you could do if you’re really worried is toss the food in the oven for a little while (works best with Thai or Chinese food, think currys or rice/noodle dishes) and chuck all of the packaging Wash your hands before you touch anything else and then when you grab the food out of the oven you should be in the clear
doctoboggan 7y ago
“The risk of getting infected from food delivery is pretty low but not zero,” says Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-the-risks-of-food-and-grocery-deliveries-11584462015 https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-the-risks-of-food-and-...
JamesBarney 7y ago
So my understanding is the best items are ones that have limited human interaction after cooking. Curries, soups, wings are better than sandwich tacos salads

by yibg 7y ago

nikanj 7y ago

The only thing I know, is the people making the food probably don’t get paid sick leave. With the huge demand in place for delivery food, the pressure is on from their bosses to keep coming in no matter how sick.

nitwit005 7y ago
I suspect most people have friends who have mentioned the same, so the overall trust level is likely fairly low. > Twelve percent of workers said they worked when they were sick with vomiting or diarrhea on two or more shifts during the last year. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ehsnet/plain_language/food-workers-working-when-sick.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ehsnet/plain_language/food-work...
ericd 7y ago
You can nuke the food in the microwave, supposedly that's been a common measure in China for delivery. You have to get it up to germ-killing temp throughout for it to be effective, though. Not great for sushi/salad takeout, obviously...
- yibg 7y ago
  Would probably also be good to stay away from high touch food like Sushi. Someone's hands have literally been all over the food.
  - eloisant 7y ago
    Well, you would think people making sushi have really good hand hygiene. Otherwise you shouldn't get sushi from that place, epidemic or not.
mikekchar 7y ago
The opposite is likely true. For example, the big companies making bentos for the Japanese railway are having their workers come in only 2 days a week. There is no demand and therefore no work. If you are even remotely ill, there is no way you are going to get to work -- there is a healthy person who is desperate to get those hours.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  I think this is true in this case. I began trying to encourage people to get takeout because I heard staff talking about cutting staff hours because their sales are so bad. The local Denny's, normally open 24 hours, is only open 8am to 8pm. I saw one guy there working the register. There's normally multiple staff during the day.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

I have a lot of procedures in place for dealing with it if someone at the store coughed, sneezed, etc. Things get eaten promptly. We typically order as close to exactly as much as we will eat. We rarely keep leftovers. Trash always goes out promptly after the meal is finished. I don't even own a trash can. Everyone washes hands promptly. If there was an incident and we feel things are contaminated, we don't keep empty bags, leftover condiments, etc either. If everything is clean, we are willing to keep such things. There are some articles on HN talking about how long it can live on surfaces. You could use the search function to dig some up. Edit: here's one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22611099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22611099

Lucadg 7y ago
What if the pizza cardboard is contaminated by the delivery guy? Do you place it on the table anyway? What if someone infected coughed on the pizza itself? Or simply touched the edges to place it there? At the moment studies prove the virus stays in the air for a while but I couldn't find out whether it stays on surfaces or moving stuff makes it fly. I stopped even buying bread a month ago in my country when there were zero official cases for fear of contamination. Any info or procedure to make life easier is most welcome.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  I get takeout, not delivery. So either I'm handling it or one of my sons is handling it. I don't like delivery and rarely get food delivered (sometimes in hotels). I've read stories about delivery drivers sampling the food or otherwise not protecting it from germs. If you use Little Caesar's pizza portal, you pull it out of a warming oven yourself. Since it is in a warming oven, I'm guessing the heat will kill the germs. If you don't have other procedures in place already to handle other issues, I think Little Caesar's pizza portal is the safest "don't need to know much about germ control" option. If a place has staff that has bad habits, I stop going. I use self checkout and similar whenever possible. I usually pay with a card, not cash. Cash tends to be nasty stuff, especially paper money. I like my food super fresh. I like Little Caesar's in part because they make the dough fresh in house daily. No other major American pizza chain dies that and I tolerate their pizza better than other major chains. I can eat it more consistently, in part because the dough is fresh. Spices are medicinal. If you are concerned the food is a threat, order spicy foods or add spices. For pizza, red peppers are usually available in store. If you have no idea what is safe, skip getting paper napkins and trash all extra condiments and the like immediately. Don't keep them around. Take the trash out of the house immediately to whatever outside trash can you use. Promptly clean up thoroughly afterwards. Edit: I will add that staff at eateries are usually better trained in germ control than staff at most other establishments. Cashiers at other stores are a much bigger hazard in my experience and I do my best to use self checkout whenever possible because cashiers are so awful about doing things like licking their fingers to separate bags. You see that much less often in eateries in my experience. I bet we could enhance containment by just passing and enforcing strict rules for germ control for all cashiers. They are the absolute bane of my existence.

alonmower 7y ago

One thing you could do if you’re really worried is toss the food in the oven for a little while (works best with Thai or Chinese food, think currys or rice/noodle dishes) and chuck all of the packaging Wash your hands before you touch anything else and then when you grab the food out of the oven you should be in the clear

doctoboggan 7y ago

“The risk of getting infected from food delivery is pretty low but not zero,” says Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-the-risks-of-food-and-grocery-deliveries-11584462015 https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-the-risks-of-food-and-...

JamesBarney 7y ago

So my understanding is the best items are ones that have limited human interaction after cooking. Curries, soups, wings are better than sandwich tacos salads