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Study Shows Re-usable Bags Contain Bacteria If Not Washed
07/17/10 - 07:00 PM
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It seems like recycling has never been easier than now.

At the grocery store, paper and plastic aren’t your only options…you now have re-usable bags.

“We try to use our bags for all of the stores we go shopping in,” said shopper Betty Ginsburg.

She always tackles brings along her recyclable bags.

“We use them to help the environment there is too much plastic bags around so this is a much better way,” said Ginsburg. 

But a new study conducted by two university shows unwashed bags can contain bacteria levels that are high enough to make you sick.

Scientists at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University say the re-usable grocery bag is a perfect breeding ground for dangerous food borne bacteria.

Inside half of the bags tested, they found a number of different bacteria, including e-coli, and that bacterium multiplies by 10 when meat juices are added.

That’s why you should immediately wash the bags after unloading the groceries.

“We leave them in each car but I try to clean them up every one or two weeks, because you never know which one has your meat or your chicken or your canned goods so if you have leaky chicken and then you’re putting in your bread, that isn’t going to be good,” said Ginsburg.

Washing the bags reduces the bacteria by 99.9%.

Most of them are machine washable safe. If not you can just wipe them off using bleach.

Re-usable bags are still a great way of recycling; just make sure they are clean.

The study says not many people know about the dangers.

97% of shoppers tested admitted to never bleaching or cleaning the bag.