Posted on 12/16/2010 6:26:23 AM PST by george76
Every week hundreds of Utahns carry their groceries home in reusable grocery bags. They do it to help the health of the environment, but it may be at the risk of their own health. KSL 5 News pulled out the gloves, the swabs and the culture dishes for a Staying Safe investigation that reveals - you may be carrying more in your bag than you bought.
Studies done in other states found some reusable bags have contained samples of e.coli and salmonella. But our tests were negative: no e.coli, no salmonella. The coliforms were another story.
Of the 89 bags sampled, 99 percent had major growths of coliform bacteria and at least 50 percent had too much bacteria to count -- though Gallardo estimates there was anywhere from 60,000 to 30 million counts of bacteria.
"You can't differentiate anything cause there's so much growth on them," he said as he looked at the culture dishes covered in spores.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksl.com ...
If reusable grocery bags carry bacteria, they should just create throw-away plastic liners for them. Problem solved!!!!
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Sounds like recruiting material for the Human Extinction Movement...
:)
“Throw away plastic liners will work.....”
Plastic liners for Green Grocery bags...BRILLIANT! /s
What? Waste water and pump phosphates into the ground water supply? Never! Just suck it up :-)
I work near a college. The grocery store near work is frequented by artsy-fartsy types. I rarely go there anymore, and it's mostly due to the time these fools waste frigging around with their 3@%#%^%@%^ reusable bags.
They get their stuff up to the checkout, fair enough. Then they need to unpack and open up the bags (I wouldn't think that it would be a production, but it always seems to be). On several occasions, they've loudly pointed out that they're using "environmentally friendly" bags, and on one occsion one girl asked my why I didn't. I told her it was none of her business. By the time they're done messing around, and smugly patting themselves on the back, I could have checked out three times and been gone.
I know, it sounds like something out of a movie, but there it is.
And for what it's worth, I use the plastic grocery store bags for darn near everything. Trashcan liners are #1, but we use them for hauling stuff around, wrapping stuff up, easy cleanup of messy projects ... roughly what you'd use a bag for. I like them because they're smaller and easier to manage than a trashbag, and they're not as slippery.
But what do I know, I guess it's the difference between someone who actually reuses and recycles because it makes sense, and someone who wants everyone to know and recognize how environmentally conscious they are.
I like the small plastic bags because I use them to clean up my dog’s poop on our walks. The neighbors appreciate it too, I am sure.
Yep. Or a dog.
You did detect the sarcasm, right?
:)
Eh? :)
I plastic-bag the garbage too. I hate yukky garbage cans--the obsessive-compulsive personality in action.
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Is it E. coli bacteria?
Gallardo said it was so bad, the samples made his entire lab smell like a hamsters cage.
It happens to be a characteristic of microorganisms (not just bacteria) that they stink in culture. I used to grow Saccharomyces cerevisiae (bread and beer yeast) for experiments; the plates smelled a lot like bread at first, but after 3 or 4 weeks, they really stank. Stinky does not mean pathogenic.
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