One grocery in my area has sanitary wipes available near the door for shoppers who want to wipe their carts.
I bet I know where a lot of these germs are coming from -- it's kids who sit in the seats at the front of the carts. They cough, sneeze, slobber, and sniffle on the handles, as well as rubbing wonderful bitty critters from their diaper area on the little fold down plastic plate. I avoid putting things in that part of the cart, especially fresh foods.
There is technology nowadays for embedding bacteria resistance into surfaces. Cart handles and kid sitting areas would be a good application for that.
Sometimes, the things that are expected to be dirty are often cleaner than those that are expected to be clean.
For example, in the mentioned toilet and shopping cart, the toilet will be cleaned far more often than the cart will be, just because the toilet is expected to get dirty faster and more frequently than shopping carts, hence deserving a regular hygiene and maintenance regimen.
I'd not be surprised of someone finds restaurant ketchup dispensers to be dirtier on the outside than toilet door handles.
Bacteria hysteria ? They'd better stay away from the cheese section !
In growcery stores I always wear my gloves, or throw my coat or sweater over the handle. When using public restrooms, I grab the door with the corner of my coat or shirt, also when entering a public building. Incidently, men are far less likely to wash their hands after using the rest room. I avoid touching my eyes, mouth or nose as much as possible and wash when I get home. Seems to work pretty well. I get sick a lot less than before.
If we don't nip this unseen bacteria (BUT ITS EVERYWHERE!) hysteria in the bud it will cause a whole lot of neurotic behavior in our country. If you become obsessed with sterilization, you will be creating a powerful new environment for bacteria. Stop at your local plumbers business one day and ask the owner about the health of plumbers (its good and stronger than most).
Japan Firm Finds Human Bacteria Effective for Skin Disease
Okayama, Feb. 16 (Jiji Press)--Ohayo Dairy Products Co. said Thursday its experiments have revealed that L-55 lactic acid bacteria, a human intestine parasite, helps alleviate the allergy atopic dermatitis.
The company, based in this western Japan city, plans to release the results at a meeting hosted by the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry in Kyoto, scheduled for March.
The experiments were conducted jointly with Okayama University Prof. Chiaki Kamei last autumn. Infected mice that were given the L- 55 bacteria were less susceptible to the allergy than infected mice that were not, even when both groups were given an inflammation- inducing agent.
The L-55 bacteria also reduced scratching among the mice, company officials said. Atopic dermatitis patients tend to suffer from intense itching of the skin.END
Penn & Teller did a whole show about the hysteria. Turns out that the test toilet seat was cleaner after a day's use than door handles and keyboards, and that the test subjects bare asses and genitals were cleaner than their hands and mouths.
Its hilarious to see people get all nuts over bacterias.
When I was a kid I ate dirt and was never sick so I could not play sick from school.