Mark Thorson said...

> UK's biggest supermarket chain is threatening
> to prosecute two Italian teenagers for committing
> a horrible, unspeakable crime.
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215337

Mark,

Putting them out for the girls to paw at is unsanitary at best. Insects can
have their way with the muffins too!

My supermarket bakery puts out a variety of "fresh" loaves of bread in
paper sacks standing on end on a wide, 3 or 4 stair-stepped shelf for the
public to handle/inspect/sniff. They don't seal the tops so they're going
stale practically the moment they put them there. The muffins, cookies,
etc., are in a glass display case like any other bakery.

Twice I bought a bag of Pepperidge Farm hamburger buns at the ACME and at
home as I used them up, I'd pull out a 3/4 (4/5?) bun, as if something
happened to them at the factory. Not broken in the bag, just a missing
piece of bun. I switched brands.

The only thing I can think of is the convenience store crates of soft
pretzels of old, out in the open at the cash registers where you'd pluck a
food-grade tissue from a dispenser and grab any one of them. Everyone knew
they were guaranteed fresh daily. Bug/dirt/germ free? Probably not. I
haven't seen the open crates in ages. Maybe they fell out of favor after
9/11?

Best,

Andy