Truth behind reusable bags

Publish Date
Thursday, 5 October 2017, 9:14AM
Photo: Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images

If you're someone who uses reusable shopping bags when doing your shopping- you're awesome.

We really appreciate you helping with the environment, but we have some bad news.

Due to recent updates to the U.K.'s Food Standards Agency, concerns have been reignited about reusable bags after looking into whats inside those bags (and we're not talking about your groceries).

A study of the bacteria found in grocery bags found that almost all of the reusable bags randomly picked from customers entering a grocery store contained large amounts of bacteria. 

With nearly half containing coliform bacteria, with 12% containing E. Coli!!

As a result of the study, the FSA is now encouraging shoppers to use separate bags for raw meat, ready-to-eat food and non-food items.

Posting on their website, the FSA also advised shoppers to:

  • Wrap raw meat packages in a separate, disposable plastic bag, and throw out the bag as soon as you get home.
  • Regularly wash reusable bags between uses to reduce bacteria. When washed, either by machine or by hand, the number of bacteria was reduced by more than 99.9 percent.
  • Avoid storing reusable bags in the car or another hot place, as bacteria spread more quickly here; store in a cool, dry place instead.

They also suggested colour coding the bags to help you keep raw items separate.

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