Grocery Bag
Numbers down at free community dinner
SILVERTHORNE - Tuesday's free community dinner at the Elks Lodge in Silverthorne served 194, 33 of which were children. Attendance numbers were down compared to recent months. According to dinner spokeswoman Deb Hage in an e-mail, each child attending the meal received a grocery bag of food to be prepared at home to replace the hot lunches they are not receiving at school during the holidays ...
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Reusable grocery bags have caught on like wildfire over the past few years. Everywhere you look, more and more people are using reusable bags instead of single use, disposable plastic bags for their everyday shopping. The reusable bag push was brought on by growing concerns about the health of our environment and the detrimental impact that plastic bags have shown to have. Plastic bags pollute our land and oceans, kill thousands of innocent animals every year, overfill our landfills, and consume finite resources like petroleum when they are manufactured. These concerns, among others, led to a huge growth in the use of reusable shopping bags worldwide, to the point that many cities and countries have begun to tax the use of plastic bags or have banned them outright. Given that over 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year, these efforts are certainly necessary, and some would argue that they were long overdue.
However, a study was released in early June 2009 that raised some health concerns about reusable bags. To be fair, it should be noted that the study was conducted by 2 independent Canadian agencies and was funded by the Environment and Plastics Industry Council, a committee of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. The study revealed that reusable shopping bags can be breeding grounds for bacteria if not cleaned properly, which could potentially lead to food poisoning.
This study likely has some consumers thinking twice about using their reusable bags, but should it? The answer appears to be no. Although it does point to some valid concerns, the bottom line is that the issues raised in the study can be easily avoided by all consumers. Take a good look at the study's findings: "Reusable bags CAN be breeding grounds for bacteria, which COULD POTENTIALLY lead to food poisoning." It doesn't say that "Reusable bags WILL be breeding grounds for bacteria, which WILL CERTAINLY lead to food poisoning."Â
The truth is that this shouldn't be much of a surprise. The problem isn't the bags themselves, it's the consumers who use them improperly. Consider that we're talking about the things that we use to transport food home from the grocery stores. These bags come in contact with your food, just like your cutting board, countertop, kitchen sink, and so on. How do you keep your food clean from contamination in the kitchen? You clean the surfaces and utensils that you use for prepping and cooking. The same is true for reusable bags. Reusable bags are washable and are just as easy to keep clean as the apron that you wear for Sunday barbeques. A run through the washing machine every once in a while, or after a spill or leak from something like raw meat simply makes sense, right?Â
Here are a few tips to keep things clean and avoid the potential for health risks:
Wash and/or disinfect reusable bags frequently. Again, this is no different than anything else that comes in contact with your food (countertops, utensils, etc.). Anytime you notice food residue (e.g. juices that leak from meats), bags should be washed before their next use.
Get in the habit of bagging meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables separately. Many vendors sell reusable produce bags that are great for keeping fruits and veggies separate from other food items. Again, these should be washed frequently.
Bag any items that could potentially leak in a separate bag. This would include things like the aforementioned meats & fish, as well as things like eggs, salad dressing, and so on.
The alternative (switching back to plastic bags), puts us back to square one. Switching back to plastic will perpetuate the damage that these bags cause and reusable bags simply have too many benefits to avoid them. Among other things, they reduce pollution, conserve energy, help save innocent animals lives, are easier to carry than plastic bags, and can carry up to three times as much as plastic bags.Â
It's estimated that using reusable bags for only one year can eliminate the consumption of over 1,000 plastic bags. Given that, the fact that you may have to toss them in the wash every so often should hardly be considered an inconvenience. In fact, using plastic bags instead of reusable bags because of the "health concerns" is comparable to beginning to use disposable plastic eating utensils, plates, cups, and so on for all of your dining because doing dishes is too inconvenient.Â
David Kraft is a freelance author that writes about a variety of subjects. He supports eco-friendly living and green products such as reusable shopping bags. For more information about eco-friendly living, visit his reusable bags site.
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