What causes the bags to be disease hotbeds? It’s not any real function of the bag but what we put into them. Items like raw meat, poultry, fish and fresh produce can carry bacteria, parasites and viruses. Packages can leak, and if you don’t have added protections of bagging your vegetables, cross contamination can occur. The bags sit in hot cars or on window sills and other warm places after use, picking up additional germs and festering in their locations until ready to use on the next trip to the store.

Back to Plastic?

Experts say there shouldn’t be a stampede back to plastic bag use, which have their own environmental issues and cause a disposal nightmare for many locations. Just as you take care to wash out a child’s lunchbox, so, too, should you clean grocery bags. Hot water and soap are your friends, but some bags may not be machine washable, so just turn them inside out and hand-wash them in the sink, letting them air dry.

It’s a good idea to have dedicated bags for certain items. A bag for fruits and vegetables, a bag for raw meat, poultry and fish, and still another for dry goods will go a long way toward preventing cross contamination.

Make sure that you use your grocery bags for groceries only. Using them as carryalls for other items brings with it a host of other problems, including bugs and exposure to other worldly ills that the bags may come in contact during their travels.

The University of Arizona/Loma Linda University report that caused a good amount of furor, “Assessment of the Potential for Cross Contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags,” has laid out a set of recommendations for consumers using reusable grocery bags. Besides designating separate bags for separate food groups, it recommends that bags not be used for any purpose other than food storage (no gym clothes!) and recommend that the bags not be stored in car trunks, which typically have a higher temperature that promotes bacteria growth.