What’s growing in your reusable bag?
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Headlines this week warned shoppers that their reusable grocery bags may "poison" them. A study from researchers in Arizona found these bags often harbor bacteria known to make people sick. WHYY's health and science reporter Kerry Grens has more on the risk of eco-friendly shopping.
E. coli and other bacteria populated about half of the reusable grocery bags that researchers randomly sampled outside Arizona and California grocery stores. Juices that leak from meat packages can foster bacterial growth. Shoppers repeat, but almost never rinse. Ninety-seven percent of them never washed their bags.
Some news outlets dubbed the bags "mobile bacteria farms." But the risk to human health actually appears to be fairly low, says Don Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.
Schaffner: And it looks to me from reviewing the results that washing these bags is an effective control measure. So the message is use these bags, but use them with caution and at the same time certainly wash them on a regular basis.
The researchers also recommend limiting a bag's purpose, and not toting gym clothes or school papers in the same bag that is used for food.
Biodegradable plastic and packaging is a modern necessity for our ever-endangered environment.
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Thanks a lot for your information
Hi All,
Great story and reminder that washable bags are the key to reusables. I'll ask you NOT to refer to them as eco-bags, since that's our company name (and it's trademarked) but to CHOOSE to purchase bags from ECOBAGS because they're made of natural, organic or recycled cotton and they ARE washable.
The bag you show in this post is made from non-woven polypropylene, which is original plastic fabric. These bags do not hold up well to washing and can, indeed, be the "mobile bacteria farms" you've reported.
Finally, it's important that folks remember to ask for plastic bags to wrap meat & fish before placing these items in their bags and to keep the bags you use for produce (especially the kind that leaves dirt residue in your bag) separate. Thanks!