Back in January 2010, DC imposed a five cent tax for bags at grocery stores and/or stores that sell food and beverages. As we all made the switch (and picked up free grocery bags from all over the District), none of us thought that over time our grocery bags could pose a serious public health problem.
According to a recent Canadian study which tested random samples of reusable grocery bags:
Of the bags tested, 64 per cent were contaminated with "some level of bacteria," about 30 per cent had "elevated bacterial counts" higher than what is considered safe for drinking water, 40 per cent of the bags had yeast or mold, and some of the bags had "an unacceptable presence of coliforms."
How to Keep Your Bags Bacteria Free
- Wash your bags regularly. If you’re like me, you’ve probably never even thought to wash your reusable bags at all. Eeek. Yes, get those bags into the wash today!
- Don’t store your bags in the car when it’s warm outside – or even when it’s sunny, really. Perhaps never! This one will be hard for me; as soon as I unload my groceries, I take my bags straight back out to the car to be used again next time. Instead, I should take them to the laundry room, wash them, dry them, and then set aside a place for them near the door.
- Dry your bags in the sun when you can; sunlight kills bacteria, as many cloth-diapering mamas know.
- Designate specific bags for raw meat and for produce, and designate all your reusable grocery bags separately from reusable bags you may have for other purposes, such as clothing or books.
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