Since everyone, and I do mean everyone, I know uses these bags, I thought this would be a great article for information. We use my plastic bins more than I use the bags, but for my bread and sometimes fruit (eew there’s some possible bacteria transfer that could happen, right onto my organic apples, is that the definition of irony or what!) we definitely use the bags. It is a really, really good point that we should be washing out these bags as often as we can.
However on another note, this makes using the bins an even better idea. Washing out the bins is so incredibly easy and fast to do. Though after reading that this study was funded by a plastics industry group, it makes want to boycott plastic, but thats just my knee-jerk reaction. I have owned my bins so long that I truly feel like I am sticking it to “the man”. They will last me a lifetime, I swear.
Do take the study with a grain of salt, knowing who funded it, but I do think there is some truth to it.
From The Journal:
EDMONTON — Reusable shopping bags may help save the environment but they pose a public health risk, suggests new research.
The bags were found to contain unacceptably high levels of bacterial, yeast, mould and coliform counts, said the study, A Microbiological Study of Reusable Grocery Bags. Some bags contained fecal matter.
“The main risk is food poisoning,” said Richard Summerbell, director of research at Sporometrics, a Toronto-based environmental microbiology laboratory, who evaluted the study results.
The warm, dark, folded interiors of bags exposed to food and liquid spills are breeding grounds for bacteria, yeast, mould and coliforms and can be transferred from bag to bag by supermarket staff, he warned.
The research, touted to be the first of its kind in North America, was funded by the Environment and Plastics Industry Council. Plastic bag bans are being adopted or considered by a growing number of municipalities. More retailers are charging fees for single-use bags and promoting reusable bags to reduce the amount of plastic discarded.
Twenty-five reusable bags were tested in March and April — including 23 used bags obtained from shoppers and two bags two and three years old. Four never-used bags were also tested as control samples. Single-use plastic shopping bags were also swabbed.
Swab testing showed 16 of 25, or 64 per cent, of the used reusable bags showed the presence of some level of bacterial contamination;
Seven bags, or nearly 30 per cent, had elevated bacterial counts higher than the level considered safe for drinking water;
Yeast was found in five bags, suggesting the presence of water, what Summerbell called “a key component of a microbial habitat;”
Researchers found mould in six of the bags;
An unacceptable total coliform count was found in three bags tested, indicating the presence of intestinal bacteria, Summerbell wrote in his report.
However, no E. coli or salmonella was found.
The new reusable bags and the single-use plastic bags sHowed no evidence of bacteria, mould, yeast or total coliforms.
Summerbell said public health officials and doctors should add reusable grocery bags to the list of possible sources of contamination when investigating food poisoning cases and said guidelines should be drafted on the hygienic use of the bags — such as regular replacement.
The co-owner of one Edmonton bakery which has given away 8,000 reusable cloth bags over the past year said she takes the study with a grain of salt because it was commissioned by a plastics industry group.
“It’s very suspect that they did the study,” said Michelle Dinner, co-owner of Bon Ton Bakery. “That can’t be very objective.”
She said using common sense when dealing with food.
“When I do my grocery shopping, sometimes my milk spills, I wash my bag out straight away. I always wash them when they look a little bit grungy. You wash your linens, you need to wash your reusable bags.”
Hmmm, this is kinda gross to admit, but other than if something noticeable has spilled, I haven’t washed my bags at all. Blech!