Reusable grocery bags can have bacteria
Lindsey Clark
The reusable grocery bag is popular among shoppers at the West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio.
Scott Ackerman, a shopper, says, "For us it's a practical reason and environmental."
They're even sold at "Judy's Oasis" where 90 percent of her customers shoulder reusable bags. She says, "It's convenient they're easy I can put a lot of stuff in one bag how often do you clean them i never do I didn't know you were supposed to."
In a University of Arizona survey, the majority of randomly selected shoppers in Los Angeles, Tucson and San Francisco gave similar answers.
One shopper says, "If it's meat products I try to wrap it in plastic, so it I'm thinking about if it's in their with something else."
Individually wrapped grocery items sound like a good idea but over packaging defeats the purpose of reusable.
Separating meats vegetables and fruits can prevent cross contamination on one trip but what's left behind when the bag is empty.
Accurate Lab CEO Skip Barner says reusable bags are catch alls for food borne bacteria and cross contamination. There is no substitute for a good scrubbing. Barner says, "With the chlorine that's in tap water there will be enough chlorine that will give you an element of sanitization that you wouldn't have otherwise."
Not everyone is among the unwashed. Millissa Gattiker cleans her reusable bag she also uses it for more then groceries. She says, "It's germy I don't want to put chicken in my bag and then my running shoes that's gross."
So before your next trip to the market, think about what your last trip may have left behind. That University of Arizona study found that 97 percent of shoppers don't regularly wash their bags, if ever, and three-fourths of people admit they don't use separate bags for meats and vegetables.
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