I found video of ABC investigation of poor hygiene conduct by many large chain hotels such as Embassy suite, Sheraton. The hotel don't wash the glasses but the cleaning staff use Windex to rinse the glass.

http://www.bestviral.com/video/6629/dont_ever_drink_from_hotel_glasses

this video really turns my stomach.
I advise everyone to avoid using hotel glasses.

I don't use hotel glasses unless their paper...but even then you need to beware. I usually buy or bring bottled water.

The last time I stayed in a hotel the coffee machine was full of water and had several moldy teabags in the reservoir.

If glass, I just wash them when I get in the room.

Best not sleep on the hotel sheets, either.

The is a bed bug epidemic in hotels in many cities. Look around when you first go in a room. While you won't catch everything, you might decide it is your best interest to get another room/hotel.
Don't ever go into a restaurant kitchen, or you may never eat out again.

Restaurant kitchens are generally safer germ wise then most home kitchens. Also when people get food poisoning, they do not realize that many types of food poisoning can take anywhere from 4 hours to 10 days to develop yet they blame it on the restaurant they ate lunch at yesterday. hat being said, yes there are lot of disgusting restaurant kitchens out there and many cities/counties publish health inspection reports on their respective websites.

If you really want to get paranoid about food borne illnesses , take a local food safety course, I had to take the course 2x....it will make you think twice about putting any food in your mouth

From this website:
Myth #3 - "Food prepared at home is much safer than restaurant food. If I get foodborne illness, it is probably because I ate something bad at a restaurant."

In fact, the opposite is true. Experts say that poor home food-handling practices cause more foodborne illness than professionally prepared food. Most professional food handlers have been trained in safe techniques and are careful about how the food is prepared, cooked and stored. After all, an outbreak of foodborne illness traced to a restaurant can permanently harm business.

At home, however, most people think they use safe practices. "I've always done it this way, and no one has gotten sick in the past," is often heard. Well, you may have gotten sick many times and thought you had the flu. (See Myth #1) Also, there are many more dangers in foods than there used to be. Salmonella has appeared in raw eggs, E. coli in ground beef, and exotic bugs on the imported fruits that have recently appeared in our supermarkets.

Educate yourself on safe food practices. Be willing to change your attitudes about handling food in your kitchen. Your family and your stomach will thank you.

One swallow* does not make a summer.

Just because you have found 'evidence' of a certain practice happening one time in one place does not automatically make it endemic. Instead, you should treat that video for what it is- sensationalist reporting in order to attract viewers to advertisments.

A

* From a clean glass, of course.

And don't be worried about the health inspector's numerical score. Take the time to read it because some of the things that deduct points may not be a big concern. I've seen them take points off for where one of the employees had her pocketbook setting.

Last hotel I stayed in near St. Louis, I woke up to find myself and the bed COVERED in hundreds of black ants!

Was not happy to say the least.....

Ahh, how much moreso out in the wild? Imagine the hygenic difficulties associated with cooking food up at elk camp for a week, or two. Even the best of coolers won't last you that long. How about the old chuckwagon days, when they had no refrigeration, and often not even enough water to cook and clean proper. You find out real quick, not everything has to get washed off. Fire can do a pretty good job if you know how to use it right.

Typically I would run three jelly boilers on the stovetop or fire for dishwashing. The first was the soapy water, the second the rinse, and the third the sterilizer, with plenty of commercial grade sterilizer agent and as hot as I could stand to put my hand in. Having worked as a dishwasher while in high school at a smorgasboard type restaurant, I learnt how to do the three sink system pretty well.

Even so, a typical meal for a crew of 8 would take at least 7 gallons of water if I used enamel plates and cups and metal flatware. We switched to paper and plastic and it still took 7 gallons of water once a day to clean the utensils, mixing bowls, etc (I had to stock enough utensils and such to do three meals between washes). That didn't include the cooking liquid, such as for pasta or rice. Then there was also the water needed for washing hands and face before each meal, which took at least a gallon every meal if everyone was frugal about it.

If I had my druthers, my next home kitchen would be stainless steel counters, tiled walls and floor, and big deep stainless steel sinks with their own water heater, and maybe an industrial style dishwasher machine. Of course, that might be a bit much for just me and the wife, but at least I know how to make that work. I'll add that to the list that includes the 10 gallon Hobart mixer, the Willams Sonoma Gas range and double oven, and the walk-in refer/freezer.

the old chuckwagon days..good point--i think if you look around the web a bit you will find info that points out that the
whole world was the "third world"--people were sick all the time from bad food and water--

Question about the 3 sink method, wouldn't it be better to rinse after sanitizing to rinse off any residual sanitizing agents?

As far as hotel glasses, I would advocate rinsing them well with tap water, then treating them with a solution of 40% to 50% ethanol, preferably at least 8 years old.

Regards,

Will

Yes,
I agree, rinse the glass then treat with ethanol, the older the better,but even if it doesn't kill all the microbes at least you will not care.
Let stand a couple of minutes.

Here is what my wife thought about this...

Verbatim transcript of a portion of the report: "Watch what the maid does with our dirty glasses: she turns on the water, rinses them out, and puts them out to be used again".

Oh the humanity! The maid takes the dirty glass, washes it, and puts it back. I suppose, what she should have done was break the glass, mash it into fine powder, melt it down, and burry it at a toxic waste disposal site in nevada?

Am I missing something?

Rinsing and washing are two different things...

The high class motels we usually stay in have plastic glasses, sealed in plastic, thrown away after use...

No, the maid did. Its commonly called dish soap/sterilizer.

I get to stay in those same high class motels and have discovered the "sealed" wrapper ripped open ever so slightly so that a "fresh" glass could be stuffed in and the wrapping re-used.

And in more than one motel chain, too. And more than once. Yuck.

Call me paranoid but I carry a packet of antibacterial wipes now. I'm sure to hit every switch, doorknob, telephone, alarm clock, remote control, etc. in the room that I might touch, just like Howie Mandel.

'Antibacterials' are seen as a panacea these days and seem to be everywhere these days. However given information like this: http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/Q&A/Q&A_antibacterials.html that is rather worrying. As they note you may be better of with more traditional solutions using 70% solutions of ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, household bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Although use of these requires may well require some sensible precautions.

OIMO

Good point, but I'm going for the convenience factor when traveling. The antibacterial and disinfecting wipes are a lot easier to lug around than liquid mixtures of alcohol or bleach.

Being sick on the road is no fun and I'm gonna boost my odds any way that I can.