Bags for life may give you bags of stomach trouble
You could be in danger of contracting E. coli from raw food if your shopping is accidentally mixed
Bags for life can pose a food poisoning risk, the food safety watchdog has said as it advised shoppers to use separate carriers for “raw” or “ready to eat” items to avoid bacteria spreading. The Food Standards Agency is urging shoppers to use colour-coded labels on bags to prevent food poisoning.
BAGS for life can pose a food poisoning risk, the food safety watchdog has admitted as it advised shoppers to keep them separate for “raw” or “ready to eat” items to avoid bacteria spreading. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is urging shoppers who use the bags to take steps to avoid getting food poisoning as a result of using them.
The FSA’S website has been updated to say: “Ideally, you should have enough bags to carry raw foods, ready-to-eat foods and non-food items such as washing powder separately.
“Keep enough bags for life for raw foods only and don’t use the same bags again for ready-to-eat foods or for carrying other household items. If it [the bag] doesn’t have a label, you could either colour code the bags (including by theme if the bag has a particular design) or mark on the bags to help you keep raw items separate.”
The guidance also recommends killing off harmful bacteria that may accrue in cotton bags used for carrying raw items by putting them in the washing machine.
Last week, an undercover camera was used to film alleged poor hygiene practices at a factory that supplies fresh chicken to UK supermarkets. And earlier this year a Daily Telegraph investigation revealed that nine million packs of chicken were sold annually with a dangerous dose of deadly bacteria on the outside, equivalent to more than one in every 100 raw chickens sold by Britain’s biggest retailers.
The FSA’S warning appears to fly in the face of its decision to let supermarkets conduct their own tests for campylobacter, a leading cause of food poisoning. The FSA said the decision was based on significant progress made by major retailers and producers to reduce campylobacter levels in chicken. Earlier this year Heather Hancock, the FSA chairman, attempted to address fears that the 5p bag charge was encouraging the spread of dangerous bugs, including E. coli and campylobacter. She wrote to supermarkets urging them to hand shoppers free disposable bags when buying raw chicken, with reminders to use them at self-service checkouts.
However, months later, many supermarkets have yet to introduce this system. Following the introduction of the 5p carrier bag tax, bags for life are fast becoming the main option for carrying shopping home.
Tesco recently scrapped 5p bags, leaving bags for life as the only option. Morrisons plans to follow suit. According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, shoppers used around six billion fewer singleuse plastic bags last year. Since the policy came into force in England in Oct 2015, the total number of carrier bags used at the UK’S biggest retailers has fallen by more than 85 per cent.