This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 9:41pm and is filed under Food Safety, Media and information, Agriculture, Environment, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Just when I finally got myself trained to remember to take my reusable “green” grocery bags to the store (at least most of the time), I read a report on “food safety threats” from them! Apparently, reusing the bags can result in the accumulation of coliform bacteria and molds.
Before you trash all those bags, however, please keep in mind that the study was funded by the Environment and Plastic Industry Council (I read that as a vested interest in plastic bags). And it appears that no E. coli or salmonella were found in the tests.
Still, common sense should come into play:
- Put potentially leaky items, such as meat, or dirt-bearing produce in a separate bag before placing in a reusable bag.
- Wash your bags after multiple uses, turn inside out and air dry, preferably in the sun to allow UV rays to help the sterilization process.
- Replace your bags if they become moldy, smelly or stained
- Wash all foods placed in direct contact with a reused bag
No reason not to keep using those bags. In many industrialized countries, green bags are the norm, not the exception.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:15pm
When we visited France TWO YEARS ago, the grocery store charged several cents per bag if you didn’t bring your own. I wonder if that will ever happen here…