....except for some reason, Vegas travellers don't seem to mind the communal food sharing. Buffets are a mainstay out there.

It's a different mindset when in Vegas :rolleyes:

In most cities/counties/states, it is mandated by the health department to have a sneeze guard over any buffet to prevent contamination from sneezing, drooling, and such.

As far as wearing food handler gloves, I have a mixed opinion about this, as it gives a false sense of clean hands. I found one restaurant that posts a sign stating that their corporate standard is to NOT use gloves, but to enforce strict hand washing for their team. I can't tell you how many times I've seen somebody make food and then move the trash can while still wearing the same pair of gloves...then again I see lots of things being in the business.

I wonder if "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" applies to what you catch from eating @ germ-buffets :D

Well, if we are talking about sneezing at the buffet, it probably should read "What happens in Vegas STICKS in Vegas!" :rolleyes:

And I think to add to that point, people in general are far more willing to mingle in public while sick. Where 20 years ago people would stay at home. Not a right or wrong, just a trend.

Actually, I think the real reason for sneeze shields is to give restaurant operators a device to be positioned in such a way as to keep customers from taking as much food as they'd grab if "unimpeded".

"Public Health concerns", of course, are a valid reason for installing them, but I see this as a fringe benefit for the restaurants. Its a little like hoteliers limiting room occupancy to comply with fire codes, etc. True enough...but its also gives them a handy reason/excuse to sell additional rooms.

Anyway, I love salad bars. At least in principle. Doctors, on the other hand, hate 'em. One doctor was quoted in the press a few years back as calling salad bars, "one of the greatest germ exchange venues in the world".

Two words:

Check, please!

This time you were "lucky" enough to see the offending behavior and avoid the consequences. Try not to think about all the times you don't witness the behavior and eat food with a questionable history. Salad bars, buffets, careless fast-food employees, and disgruntled kitchen staff. Some things we are better off not knowing...

True, what do you think is responsible for this? Is it our busy, busy can't be gone from work or disconnected from communications that leads to this. . .

The title reminds me...
 

Of when a group of us were at an all-u-can-eat salad (and beer) place in NYC many years ago...and somebody had too much salad (and beer) and dashed toward the bathroom...only to "lose it" on the salad bar...and nobody noticed...

This thread reminds me of a newspaper article I read many years ago (early 90's) which, from memory, said that tests of food at salad bars revealed that most of the food had bacteria normally found in faecal matter, i.e. customers not properly washing their hands after going to the toilet! I've not touched a salad bar since then. I've tried to Google for the article but can't find it.

this is why I don't do buffets...
 

I saw a kid of about 5 or 6, of course by himself, grab the big spoon from a tray of pudding, put it in his mouth for a nice big bite, then put the spoon back into the pudding. That was it for me..and that was about 6 or 7 years ago!

Do you mean E. Coli? We all have 'em (including cows). The real problem is not the normal E. Coli that are routinely detected in such tests, it's that there might be some E. Coli in the mix that are O157:H7-the EHEC (enterohemmoragic) class.

This is the strain that caused the Odwalla Apple Juice Outbreak, and the Jack-in-the Box Outbreak

In my case, it's not so much what bacteria it is but the fact that its presence in most salad bars (according to that survey) indicates contamination by customers!