Can Reusable Shopping Bags Transmit Germs Viruses? You Bet.
I take my reusable shopping bags with me everywhere I go. I use them at the grocery store religiously, but I also take them with me to my local farmer’s market, to the Salvation Army, to Target, and pretty much anywhere else I go to do my shopping.
Although I consider myself a clean person, and I’m really good about disinfecting surfaces and washing my hands, there’s something I never thought about until today: my reusable shopping bags, and the germs and bacteria that might be lurking in them.
I’m guessing you probably haven’t thought about this either. However, it’s something we all need to think about, since scientists have discovered that germs and viruses can land on inanimate objects and survive there for weeks.
For instance, NPR reports that public health officials in Oregon are investigating several cases of the highly contagious norovirus (stomach flu), which infected an entire youth soccer team and their chaperones a few weeks ago. Scientists couldn’t figure out how everyone managed to get sick, when no one had contact with the first person after they began showing symptoms.
The culprit turned out to be a reusable shopping bag, which was carrying snacks for the entire team. The bag had the virus, which got on most of the snack bags, and then infected everyone who ended up taking an “infected” snack. All said, 21 people got sick from this one shopping bag.
This certainly isn’t the first outbreak from a reusable shopping bag. NPR quotes another study they reported on back in 2010, where scientists discovered that more than half of the reusable bags they sampled contained some form of coliform bacteria, including E. coli. Yikes.
The lesson here is simple: if you use reusable shopping bags, whether they’re shiny recycled plastic, sustainable jute or hemp, or regular cotton, the bag needs to be washed or disinfected regularly. Cloth bags can be thrown in the wash, and plastic bags can be wiped down with bleach or vinegar.
3 Responses to “Can Reusable Shopping Bags Transmit Germs Viruses? You Bet.”
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This article exposes the dangers of reissuable bags and warns against diseases which can be caused to food stuffs carried in it. It suggests the bags must be washed like any other clothes.
Oh dear. This is another instance of the insane ‘health and safety’ lobby and their obsession with cleanliness. And they are actually part of the problem, part of the cause.
Bags used for years used to be the norm before giant supermarkets made everyone use plastic throwaway bags without a thought about the environment. The passing on of germs wasn’t an issue, bags are no different to any other human contacts which happen all the time. Children once played outside in the dirt, my children used to need a bath every day they were so grubby. No one was obsessed with germs then, and anti-bacterial wipes were not invented. The result was kids grew up with healthy immune systems which took care of any infective organisms; we are natural creatures living in the real world after all, we evolved to cope with it. I spent a childhood investigating my environment, getting up to all kinds of things, careless of all these killer infections that scare so many these days. I was never sick!
I’m unsurprised this has come from America, where the health and safety obsession started then spread to Europe. The lates, and I didn’t make it up, is a local pub [bar] which has been told to put a sign beside an open log fire in their lounge saying ‘Fire is hot, it will burn you’, I know because I was asked to make the sign.
I have been using the same bags for years and none have ever been washed. I don’t get infections, it’s more than twenty years since I even had a cold. If you are concerned your immune system may be compromised [an ultra clean childhood and obsessive parents could be to blame] take Echinacea daily and your immune system will be stimulated and tuned up and will work properly. The Echinacea plant actually comes from America, the native peoples used it as medicine, and it’s immune system stimulation properties have been tested and accepted by modern science. Google it if you’ve never heard of it.
My advice is to relax, ignore all this nonsense, or the next step will be worrying about money – how many dirty hands has that been through? Not just yours but strangers!!!!! That way can lead to madness.
The answer to your questioning headline is yes, so what? Everything can, but we have an immune system that is designed by evolution to cope with our environment. That includes airborn organisms as well as those which might be on a bag. Be natural, don’t worry.
Add to my previous comment that echinacea shouldn’t be taken continuously, just for a few days when it’s needed; if you start a cold or other infection.