Bacteria and Grocery Store Carts!

[MelissaH]

Cart wipes at the entryway of the big supermarkets. Bags at the meat section of both. But only Wegman's has hand sanitizer at the meat section.

MelissaH

[OliverB]

There seems to be a serious case of germophobia in this country! I have to laugh at the wipes they offer at safeway, as far as I know just wiping something off with a chlorox soaked rag does nothing unless you wait for a couple of minutes, by which time you've already gone your merry way with the cart. And germs.

I wonder, do some people wipe down each bill in their wallet? Each coin? I read that each bill in circulation has traces of cocaine on it, now you can imagine what other much more common things will be on there too. So what. Don't use them as spoons.

Yes, I have kids, and they always sat in the seat, and the boy rode the cars too. I hated those, as it's something like a stretch limo version of a cart, but he loved them. (luckily they were all broken by the time the girl came along!) Now they offer kid's shopping carts though (how cute!), don't stir your soup with those either. Of course, more germs in school anyway, as they don't disinfect them three times a day.

Really, washing hands is good, washing produce is good (though you can't wash of germs unless you use very hot water and soaps) and a reasonable amount of personal hygiene. As someone else mentioned already, those that compulsively wipe down their cubicle/car/house/cart with disinfective wipes and soaps are also in my experience those that get sick more often whereas I remember quite some of the never-wash-hands league that never got sick. Ever. As much as their employees were hoping for it at times....

Oh, and kids etc will be just fine - just think of where they come from on day one. Instant germ attack and it's necessary for the immune system.

Now, passing who knows what around at recess, I believe that's where the true sharing comes - quite literally - into play

[Anna N]

Here's my recent take on this whole sanitizing thing. A 10-year-old of my acquaintance is encouraged to use hand sanitizer after touching things in the public domain. Seems to me that hand sanitizer is very high in alcohol. The skin on her hands is now dry and cracked - voila - the largest organ of all is now open to any opportunistic germ! Doesn't make any sense at all to me. Common sense hand washing with soap and water should be sufficient.

Edited to fix an error that didn't exist??

Edited December 27, 2009 by Anna N (log)

[nibor]

Even though I work in the area of infectious disease, I am not very germ-phobic. I don't use wipes on my cart, or even wash my hands very often. I think exposure to microbes is, to some extent, good for you. The business with handling packaged chicken like it was dog crap is more to keep the slime off my hands. But I started doing it with vegetables too after noticing other shoppers wiping their noses on their hands, coughing, etc., then handling vegetables that I intended to eat raw, quite soon. Once I started noticing this, it seemed like I saw it all the time - people snacking (stealing) food with their bare hands and licking their fingers between courses while shopping (and sneezing and coughing). I think other people should keep their spit in their mouths, and not on my food.

[divalasvegas]

On a recent shopping trip to Harris Teeter I found another very good reason to sanitize/cleanse those parts of the shopping cart where you're likely to touch it with your hands.

I was in line behind a woman and her little darling who was sitting in the back of one of those carts with the safety seat and seat belt. Yeah, yeah the shrink-wrapping of our kids--another topic for another time. Anyway, I noticed that he had a crab leg in his hands that he was eating and sucking on given to him by mommy from a bag of crab legs she had purchased; pretty disgusting in my humble opinion. I alerted one of the managers to this fact because of concern for anyone with a shellfish allergy unknowingly using a cart contaminated with a possible life threatening exposure of crab drippings and that perhaps she could have an employee wipe down the cart once the woman was done with it. Her reply was to thank me for my concern and point out that Harris Teeter has wipes near the carts and she figured the woman would definitely wipe it down herself and that employees wipe them down daily anyway. By the time we finished talking the woman was gone.

Of course, hopefully, people with such allergies will be proactive and carry their own sanitizers. However, I wonder how many people with such allergies who take care not to ingest or in any way be exposed to problem foods might not think of this.

[OliverB]

I'm sure who ever has a strong allergy against something knows how to protect themselves (or their parents do if little kids). We really can't sanitize the world for those with special conditions, as nice as that would be.

As for hosing the carts down, that won't remove any germs, that'll remove dirt (and I think the stores put the carts where they get rained on for a reason, LOL). To sanitize the carts you'd have to dunk them into a pool of chlorinated water or similar. And that would be rather costly and supermarkets have tiny margins since we (yes, WE) all want everything cheap cheap cheap.

And just wiping down the handles really won't do much for you anyways, as everything you pick up in the store has been handled by multiple people on the way to the shelf. Including by the employees who just collected all the carts in the parking lot. I'd hope (but not bet on) that employees wash hands before handling produce, but I doubt (nor see a reason for) such a policy for putting cans and packages on the shelves. (the usual requirements of washing after the bathroom etc aside - which I doubt are policed in a supermarket as much as in a restaurant or deli setting....) If one is that afraid of germs, I guess gloves and a mask are the only remedy that really would make any sense. Or ordering online, take delivery in the garage and fumigate with disinfecting spray before entering.

Germs are necessary to keep your immune system up. Personally I believe all this clean fit many throw is a reason for the sudden increase in allergies in the US too, but that's just my opinion. My family in Germany laughed out loud when I told them that I'm not allowed to pack a peanut butter bread for my kids school lunch. Something like that just doesn't exist in other countries, at least not that I'm aware of. Paranoia is a good business in this country

[Kouign Aman]

Unless you are buying hot house or hydroponic produce, dont the bare hands of shoppers seem a non-inssue, given the source of the produce in the first place?

Birds perch in those grapevines...

[nibor]

How do you think we catch diseases from other people? Their microbes don't manage to infect you by magic. It takes contact, and very often it is via secretions from the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.

Many people do not wash their hands after going to the bathroom, they sneeze into their hands, etc. You touch what they touch, you stick your fingers in your nose or mouth, and you get sick. This is like public health 101 guys.

[OliverB]

incidentally, this is also how you build your hopefully healthy immune system. You won't be immune against something you've never come across. And a lot of things are doing just fine airborne and you don't need to touch anything or anybody to catch (literally) what's been sprayed around. To me it just comes down to common sense.

[Kouign Aman]

How do you think we catch diseases from other people? Their microbes don't manage to infect you by magic. It takes contact, and very often it is via secretions from the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.

Many people do not wash their hands after going to the bathroom, they sneeze into their hands, etc. You touch what they touch, you stick your fingers in your nose or mouth, and you get sick. This is like public health 101 guys.

Yup. The conclusion I come to is: you wash your hands, and you dont touch your face.

And bring a bottle of gel to wipe the cart handle, and be sure to set aside the time for it to become effective.

That way the rest of us dont have to pay for the extra cost of cleaning the carts, the law suits when the cleaned cart still swabs positive once in a while, etc, and for the cost of growing fruit in a sterile environment.

Edited December 28, 2009 by Kouign Aman (log)

[Susie Q]

I won't put anything, not even my purse, in the critter seat knowing full well that there isn't much of a difference between the seat and rest of the cart where some mother has plopped her remaining kidlets in the basket along with her groceries.

I just put hope in the belief "That which does not kill me makes antibodies!"

Edited December 30, 2009 by Susie Q (log)