Safely Handling Food/Groceries

[wenrob]

Have you ever filled a baggie with water? They are waterproof. Unlikely that the soap seeped in that way. Probably the countertop needed rinsing after using the spray and the kids touched the countertop or the crackers were on it. I've often wondered about those cleaners that say "no rinsing afterward." They are still on the surfaces.

Plastic bags aren’t indestructible. Haven’t you ever put onions in a baggie, sealed it tight and still had your refrigerator reek of onion? Once I somehow ended up with my bread in the same bag as a box of fabric softener sheets and the bread ended up smelling and tasting like Bounce.

 

[Imzadi]

Plastic bags aren’t indestructible. Haven’t you ever put onions in a baggie, sealed it tight and still had your refrigerator reek of onion? Once I somehow ended up with my bread in the same bag as a box of fabric softener sheets and the bread ended up smelling and tasting like Bounce.

Okay, you win that point. Now, I'm worried about the turkey soup I divvied up into Ziplocks last nite. Because the soup sloshed over the sides of the bags and got greasy, I washed them down with dishwashing liquid. Why couldn't we have had this discussion sooner?

 

[mombrontrent]

I am mindful of washing my hands after putting away the groceries but that's about it.

I still have to go to work. I've told my wife that I will do all the grocery shopping since I already have to go to work. I take my shoes off in the garage, shower, and change clothes upon getting home.

I work in a grocery store and don’t even do this, I come home like I normally do, take my shoes off inside, wash my hands, make dinner and then take off my uniform and shower. I’m surrounded by hundreds of people all day, staff members who sit in the lunch room and eat their lunches without changing or showering, I don’t see it as a risk . In fact most staff buy their lunch at the store and I have yet to observe anyone wiping down their products before eating. I’m more at risk being in the actual store all day surrounded by all the customers and even then I’m not too concerned.

 

[mombrontrent]

Okay, you win that point. Now, I'm worried about the turkey soup I divvied up into Ziplocks last nite. Because the soup sloshed over the sides of the bags and got greasy, I washed them down with dishwashing liquid. Why couldn't we have had this discussion sooner?

The soup will be fine

 

[wenrob]

Okay, you win that point. Now, I'm worried about the turkey soup I divvied up into Ziplocks last nite. Because the soup sloshed over the sides of the bags and got greasy, I washed them down with dishwashing liquid. Why couldn't we have had this discussion sooner?

I’m sure it’s fine. It’s the harsher stuff I get concerned about.

 

[focusondisney]

I sprayed down the 3 boxes and started coughing immediately afterward and was coughing all day. I scared the crap out of myself.

Most likely you irritated your lungs by inhaling the caustic cleaning agents. Some cleaning products can be dangerous if not used correctly.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

To each their own. It's not like I'm shouting from the rooftops for everyone else to wipe down their grocery packages, too, so I don't see how I'm inciting panic. I don't think it's wasteful or that it does nothing so I'm going to keep doing it. I never used to wipe groceries down and won't in the future, but as long as I'm shopping for my mom and interacting with her I'll be wiping down what I can.

Even the wipes makers themselves you need to be wiping down for something like 4 minutes before they guarantee it works. You scrubbing those boxes for four minutes each?

We leave our delivery boxes on the porch for a little over 24 hours. Anything inside of them has been inside for even longer than that. We unpack on the boxes on the porch, bring the items inside and wash our hands. Done. We break the boxes down eventually but i don;t mind leaving them outside. We have 3 porches.

 

[Imzadi]

Most likely you irritated your lungs by inhaling the caustic cleaning agents. Some cleaning products can be dangerous if not used correctly.

Yes, and the actual act of coughing can sometimes make the coughing worse.

 

[DisneyOma]

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973?query=featured_home
The actual study - so, if you are spraying your items with aerosol COVID-19, the results they give you are valid. If you are touching a box, or coughing on a box (droplets not aerosol) then you really have nothing to compare to at this point. The half life volume of an aerosol-spraying is not going to be the same as for a touch. Not sure about a droplet.

Think of it this way. A person with COVID-19 coughs on his hand. 100 particles of virus get on that hand. The hand touches a box. Not all 100 particles are going to get on that box. If 50 do, half of them are going to die in 3.5 hours. Now you're down to 25. But the study doesn't cover any of this. It doesn't say how much is transmitted in a touch (or give a percent, but I haven't read the original top to bottom, just the letter they sent)

 

[gillep]

Okay, you win that point. Now, I'm worried about the turkey soup I divvied up into Ziplocks last nite. Because the soup sloshed over the sides of the bags and got greasy, I washed them down with dishwashing liquid. Why couldn't we have had this discussion sooner?

I have done this MANY times and never have had an issue (I am a disaster pouring liquids into bags no matter how many tricks I try). I think regular dishwashing liquid and things like the chemicals in the Clorox wipes are quite different. I always wipe counters down again with water after Clorox wipes, that smell/taste seems to permeate really well.

 

[NYCgrrl]

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973?query=featured_home
The actual study - so, if you are spraying your items with aerosol COVID-19, the results they give you are valid. If you are touching a box, or coughing on a box (droplets not aerosol) then you really have nothing to compare to at this point. The half life volume of an aerosol-spraying is not going to be the same as for a touch. Not sure about a droplet.

Think of it this way. A person with COVID-19 coughs on his hand. 100 particles of virus get on that hand. The hand touches a box. Not all 100 particles are going to get on that box. If 50 do, half of them are going to die in 3.5 hours. Now you're down to 25. But the study doesn't cover any of this. It doesn't say how much is transmitted in a touch (or give a percent, but I haven't read the original top to bottom, just the letter they sent)

This is why washing your hands frequently is a great idea. And coughing into your elbow is as well. I didn't learn about the elbow coughing until DGD was in pre-school/kindergarten which would have been about 10 odd years ago but I've been doing ever since w/ re-enforcement from the little one. Her eyes get big as saucers if I forget.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Plastic bags aren’t indestructible. Haven’t you ever put onions in a baggie, sealed it tight and still had your refrigerator reek of onion? Once I somehow ended up with my bread in the same bag as a box of fabric softener sheets and the bread ended up smelling and tasting like Bounce.

Yes to both!

 

[Christine]

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973?query=featured_home
The actual study - so, if you are spraying your items with aerosol COVID-19, the results they give you are valid. If you are touching a box, or coughing on a box (droplets not aerosol) then you really have nothing to compare to at this point. The half life volume of an aerosol-spraying is not going to be the same as for a touch. Not sure about a droplet.

Think of it this way. A person with COVID-19 coughs on his hand. 100 particles of virus get on that hand. The hand touches a box. Not all 100 particles are going to get on that box. If 50 do, half of them are going to die in 3.5 hours. Now you're down to 25. But the study doesn't cover any of this. It doesn't say how much is transmitted in a touch (or give a percent, but I haven't read the original top to bottom, just the letter they sent)

Not to mention how many virions of COVID-19 it takes to infect. Your body can surmount a fight against a small number of various viruses. Each virus has it's own load or burst once it has a host. I don't think we know what it is for COVID-19 yet, but just say that it takes 50 particles before your body can't handle it. But I don't think I've read where they've learned that yet. Is it 1 or 100?

 

[robinb]

But man, some of this stuff is just next level and so much of it is unproven. People are going to make themselves sick from trying not to get sick. This isn’t a criticism, I know people are scared (I’m no spring chicken so I’m nervous too) and we should all up our game when it comes to awareness and cleanliness but if we follow the guidelines given to us by experts we’re going to be okay.

I think people are scared and feel helpless so they just do *something* to make themselves feel safe.

 

[Heather07438]

Plastic bags aren’t indestructible. Haven’t you ever put onions in a baggie, sealed it tight and still had your refrigerator reek of onion? Once I somehow ended up with my bread in the same bag as a box of fabric softener sheets and the bread ended up smelling and tasting like Bounce.

Some plastic bags are still permeable. There's certain things I won't put in my pantry because even when technically in water tight packaging, smells can get absorbed into some of the others.

The easiest way to think about this is the difference between regular food storage baggies and freezer bags. Freezer bags are made to be less permeable to gases.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Some plastic bags are still permeable. There's certain things I won't put in my pantry because even when technically in water tight packaging, smells can get absorbed into some of the others.

Yes. Quality varies quite a bit depending on brand.

 

[DuskKodesh]

Plastic is a water barrier but not an oxygen barrier. Gas can and will still go through most plastics. If you can hold the baggy up and sniff what's in it then other smells/tastes can get in.

Foil or metal is an oxygen barrier but you'd have to deal with sealing the foil edges.

 

[monkeydawn]

Wearing gloves does not "protect" anyone from viruses like this. That's not how they work. There is absolutely no difference between touching everyone's groceries and money with your bare hands or hands with gloves on them. You're still spreading germs exactly the same way. You're also going to get sick just as easily if you touch your eyes/nose/mouth with a gloved hand or your bare hand.

I personally find it fairly ridiculous that all these cashiers and other random people are wearing them (especially when there are shortages that could be used properly in hospitals). I see it as being just for appearances (tricking people into thinking they are safer/more hygienic) and that many people are actually LESS conscious of spreading while using them.

This is how I mostly feel about gloves. There greatest strength is probably if you arent used to wearing them then maybe just having them on makes you more conscious of where your hands are.

I did consider wearing them yesterday. I had to refill my water jugs. So I was planning on putting them on before I touched the cart and then removing them before I started screwing off the bottle tops as I could not visit a bathroom without again touching the cart. But they had someone there disinfecting the carts so we didnt glove up and just did a round of sanitizer before unscrewing the bottle tops. I do spray the tops with alcohol when we get home as a backup disinfection. So in that sort of a situation gloves can also be helpful (or I could have brought my own cart wipes, just used sanitizer or sanitized the bottle tops at home before using and it would have likely been as effective.

 

[Heather07438]

Down in Jersey City there are plastic gloves littered about the streets by the thousands. I can't comprehend. People are wearing disposable gloves to be conscientious I guess? But can't think to at least throw them in the public garbage cans on almost every corner?

 

[PlainJane]

Down in Jersey City there are plastic gloves littered about the streets by the thousands. I can't comprehend. People are wearing disposable gloves to be conscientious I guess? But can't think to at least throw them in the public garbage cans on almost every corner?

That’s terrible. They’re probably afraid to touch the trash can, so they are selfishly just throwing them on the ground for someone else to clean up.

There is a point to wearing gloves, in the general public, beyond being conscientious. They will reduce the amount of germs that directly touch your skin (or the amount of chemicals that touch your skin if using cleaning agents). BUT in the case of trying to reduce germs you have to dispose of them after using them and preferably wash your hands or at least sanitize your hands after disposing of them before you touch your mucus membranes. If you properly dispose of them (avoid touching the outside as you take them off) you will have less germs on your hands than if you hadn’t worn them. This reduces, not eliminates, the chance of getting sick.