There could be danger lurking in your reusable grocery bag

With Sobeys recently announcing that it is eliminating all single-use plastic bags from its stores, the hope is more people will choose reusable grocery bags.

While we may feel good about doing our part to help the environment, we may not feel so great if the bags make us ill.

University of Arizona microbiologist Dr. Kelly Reynolds says cross-contamination of foods in the reusable bags can be a breeding ground for bacteria.

“We have very clear types of food that we know can transmit illness, and these are things like raw meat, ground beef, poultry, eggs. These are all known to carry pathogens like E. coli, salmonella, a variety of different things that we know can make us sick,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds says despite a plastic bag ban, all meats should still be wrapped in plastic if they are going into a reusable grocery bag to help stop potential leaks from the packaging.

She says a study by researchers at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University found more than 50 per cent of the grocery bags tested were contaminated with bacteria, and E. coli was found in more than 12 per cent of the tested bags.

Reynolds said it was also disturbing to learn that more than 90 per cent of the people they spoke with who use reusable bags don’t ever wash them.

“The other thing we need to be doing is laundering these reusable grocery bags. It’s really important because even if you don’t have leaky meats — and by the way, the leaks could be microscopic — you may not even know that it happened,” Reynolds said.

To clean a cotton bag, you just need to throw it in the washer and dryer. The plastic reusable bags need to be hand-cleaned with soap and water or wiped down with a sanitizing cloth.

Many people who use the reusable bags leave them in their vehicles so they don’t forget them when they go to the grocery store. Reynolds said that’s actually dangerous. The heat from inside a vehicle can help the bacteria grow.

“Our studies at the University of Arizona have shown that the bacteria can multiply by 100 times more than what they started at,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds also warns to never use your grocery bags for anything but food.

“I asked my local grocer what was the grossest thing they ever saw in a reusable grocery bag, and they said a dirty baby diaper was in the bag, and the customer just opened the bag to put groceries in there. So, I think one of the things we also need to be doing for the best public health practices is to only use these bags for your groceries,” said Reynolds.

For maximum safety, she suggested using separate bags for separate foods and to wash the bags after each grocery store visit.