How Safe Are Reusable Shopping Bags

Although reusable grocery bags are good for our Earth, there is a hidden danger of germs building up in them and transferring to new purchases.

A good article in in boston.com, from the Boston Globe, discusses an incident where several people became infected with the norovirus and it was linked to a reusable grocery bag.

Here is some of what the article said:

    “A 2010 norovirus outbreak that occurred in 17 teenage girls from Oregon and their four adult chaperones who attended an out-of-state soccer tournament was traced to a bag containing post-game snacks. It turns out the bag had been stored in a hotel bathroom that had been used by a player who suddenly became ill on the trip with diarrhea and vomiting; the girl, infected with norovirus, had no direct contact with her teammates after her symptoms began.

    The rest of the team became sick several days later, and researchers at Oregon Health and Science University traced their infections to contaminated bags of chips, grapes, and cookies. “The virus aerosolized in the bathroom and landed on the grocery bag,” explained study co-author Kimberly Repp. “It was then transported into the team room where snacks were passed around and then got on the players’ hands when they touched the snack packages.”

    Repp was able to isolate norovirus from the reusable grocery bag two weeks after the soccer match, though, she said she didn’t know whether the virus was alive and still capable of infecting someone.”

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