Bags for life could have E.coli Tests on shoppers’ bags revealed half contained traces of E.coli, a lethal toxin which killed 26 people in Scotland in 1996 in one of the worlds worst food poisoning outbreaks. Scientists also found many were contaminated with salmonella. Reusable plastic shopping bags have become increasingly popular in Britain [and the US; insertion mine] thanks to supermarkets and other retailers giving out millions of free ones to shoppers in the last three years. It is estimated that there are "hundreds of millions" of bags for life in use in Britain, according to sources within Wrap,...