FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Food

Reusable Shopping Bags Could Give You Food Poisoning

The UK’s Food Standards Agency warns that using the same bags to carry raw and ready-to-eat foods can cause potentially life-threatening illnesses.
Photo via Tim Samoff.

The 5p charge for single-use plastic bags, which was introduced in October 2015, has been great news for the environment. According to Government figures, supermarkets have issued 83 percent fewer plastic bags since the charge came into effect—that's six billion fewer bags ending up in the ocean, in landfill, and gathering dust at the back of your kitchen cupboard.

But it also means that every time you go to the supermarket, you will inevitably attempt to stuff every item you purchase into one bulging bag to avoid forking out another 5p (yes, everyone's that stingy).

Advertisement

However, if you're popping to the shops to get ingredients for chicken curry and some washing up liquid—and end up carrying them all back home together—food safety experts warn that you could be putting yourself at risk of food poisoning. In an announcement issued at the end of August, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) says that packing raw, ready-to-eat, and non-food items in the same reusable bags can cause cross-contamination of illness-causing germs.

According to the FSA, raw food (which includes raw meat, fish, shellfish, loose vegetables covered in soil, and eggs), as well as wrapped raw foods like fresh pre-packed chicken, can contain harmful germs on their surfaces and packaging. The food safety body advises that shoppers pack raw and ready-to-eat items in separate bags for life to avoid cross-contamination. It also recommends keeping certain reusable bags for raw food only.

This isn't the first time that the FSA has reacted to the use of bags for life. In January, chairman Heather Hancock urged supermarkets to provide customers with small disposable plastic bags at checkouts to avoid cross-contamination when packing with non-raw items. MUNCHIES reached out to the UK's top four supermarkets—Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA, and Morrisons—to find out whether they have implemented the FSA's advice. A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said that their stores did offer free small disposable bags. The other supermarkets had not responded at the time of publishing.

But how much of a food poisoning risk does reusing the same bag for all your shopping actually pose? Iain Ferris, a teaching fellow in Food Safety and Standards at the University of Birmingham told us you should probably listen to the FSA.

He said: "The advice given is sound practical advice to minimise the risk. To put the risk into some context, the Health Protection Agency carried out a survey on the prevalence of campylobacter, salmonella, and E Coli on the external packaging of raw meat in 2002. The survey took swabs from 3662 samples of packaged raw meat and found salmonella on 2 samples (<0.1 percent), campylobacter on 41 (1.1 percent) and E coli on 69 (1.9 percent). Illnesses caused by these bacteria can be extremely serious and therefore it makes sense to minimise your chance of infection."

Ferris continued: "Luckily it would appear that the prevalence of these bacteria on the outer packaging is quite low. However, the steps advised are quite simple and proportional to the risk. If consumers followed this advice it would reduce further the chances of contracting potentially life-threatening illness."

Maybe 5p isn't such a high price to pay.