Poll: Do you sanitize your groceries when you return home after shopping

My wife start doing it since 2-3 weeks ago, especially the stuff you put into freezer and fridge,

I personally inject Lysol into my fruit & vegetables with a syringe, and leave the items required to be in the fridge/freezer out in the sun for 3 days. I remember picking up these tips from some guy on TV who looked pretty important.

I WAS using lysol wipes until I realized how useless they were. I had a 120 pack already on hand for quite a while.

Now, I simply wash my bottles, cans, and packaged meat / vegetables with a soap soaked sponge for 20 seconds, then rinse them and throw them in the fridge. It doesn't hurt to be cautious. If any of the labels come off, I have a sharpie on hand.

I also wash my key ring / keys, and credit card with soapy water for 20 seconds when I return home.

Isn't it pointless? I don't think experts say that the coronavirus carries through groceries. For many grocery items, you only increase the risk of ingesting Lysol/Clorox or other disinfectants. A box is permeable I'm sure.

These days, grocery store employees are told to wash their hands often as a corporate policy. Even the belt and other equipment at checkout is sanitized way more often now.

With the same idea, might as well stop eating all take out food.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ Isn't it pointless? I don't think experts say that the coronavirus carries through groceries. For many grocery items, you only increase the risk of ingesting Lysol/Clorox or other disinfectants. A box is permeable I'm sure.

These days, grocery store employees are told to wash their hands often as a corporate policy. Even the belt and other equipment at checkout is sanitized way more often now.

With the same idea, might as well stop eating all take out food.

We are sanitizing everything. We also are not eating takeout. It may or may not make a difference but it isn’t going to hurt.

I actually don’t touch the groceries. My husband deals with them outside. Our steps are:

- take bags out of the car & remove all groceries from bags and throw out bags
- wash hands in between each step
- Take items out of unnecessary packaging (like frozen food out of boxes)
- wash all veg in water and vinegar (no vinegar won’t kill covid)
- wash all packages in Lysol (not enough to have it go through packaging)
- place groceries in spare room or on shelf in fridge for new groceries - wait 7 days to use

It may or may not work but I have cancer that requires surgery that is on hold because of covid so we are going to do what we can to keep it out of our house.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ Isn't it pointless? I don't think experts say that the coronavirus carries through groceries. For many grocery items, you only increase the risk of ingesting Lysol/Clorox or other disinfectants. A box is permeable I'm sure.

These days, grocery store employees are told to wash their hands often as a corporate policy. Even the belt and other equipment at checkout is sanitized way more often now.

With the same idea, might as well stop eating all take out food.

Doesn't hurt to take some precautions. We DO wash and wipe groceries. Anything in a box gets opened and contents dumped out without touching the outside of box. I am a junk food junkie and haven't eaten garbage food in 6 or 7 weeks. The upside is that I've lost 10lbs!

No, I don't do any of these kinds of things. Groceries, takeout, Amazon boxes etc. I just wash my hands after coming home.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ Isn't it pointless? I don't think experts say that the coronavirus carries through groceries. For many grocery items, you only increase the risk of ingesting Lysol/Clorox or other disinfectants. A box is permeable I'm sure.

These days, grocery store employees are told to wash their hands often as a corporate policy. Even the belt and other equipment at checkout is sanitized way more often now.

With the same idea, might as well stop eating all take out food.

It is entirely possible for COVID-19 to transmit via any object or hard surface - it transmits via droplets. I bet you wouldn't take home an orange if you saw me sneeze on it, would you?

It's a personal risk-assessment for everyone. Groceries, food, etc. all will have varying levels of risk depending on several factors: who has come into contact with your items, if one of these people were infected, how long ago they contaminated the item, etc.. I personally don't wipe my groceries down (I used to), but that is out of sheer laziness and my (perhaps reckless) perceived low risk. It certainly would be logical to do so if one wanted to be as safe as possible.

No, but most things go in the freezer or storage for a time before we get around to eating it. I try to buy fresh produce packaged if possible. Otherwise, cook food before consuming and wash hands after handling when bringing it home. I also wash produce before eating it, but that's nothing new.

If I lived in Ontario or Quebec it may be a different story and I would be more cautious.

my paranoid mom wipes down all packaging. The food is soaked/washed before putting away

jackrabbit000 wrote: ↑ I never do but my front line wife does. I put a 4L icecream in the freezer and it's been in there for 2 days. She took it out and disinfectedi it. Uh OK.

Depending on the surface, at room temperature viruses can survive up to 7 days.

However, at 4 degrees C they can survive up to 28 days, and in the freezer up to 2 years.

Uh OK.

Canoes4Fun wrote: ↑ We are sanitizing everything. We also are not eating takeout. It may or may not make a difference but it isn’t going to hurt.

I actually don’t touch the groceries. My husband deals with them outside. Our steps are:

- take bags out of the car & remove all groceries from bags and throw out bags
- wash hands in between each step
- Take items out of unnecessary packaging (like frozen food out of boxes)
- wash all veg in water and vinegar (no vinegar won’t kill covid)
- wash all packages in Lysol (not enough to have it go through packaging)
- place groceries in spare room or on shelf in fridge for new groceries - wait 7 days to use

It may or may not work but I have cancer that requires surgery that is on hold because of covid so we are going to do what we can to keep it out of our house.

Pretty much the same here

We have been self isolating for 8+ weeks now

So we look at ourselves and our home as Covid Free
We intend to do whatever it takes to keep it so

ANYTHING / EVERYTHING that comes into our home either stays in the garage / mud room
Goes straight into the laundry
Or gets wiped down with Bleach, Lysol or Clorox Wipes before getting further into the house

We don’t take things out of boxes ... but every box is wiped down entirely
As is every bag, jar, can & carton

Fresh Fruits & Veggies are all washed in Vinegar Water before eating / cooking (have done this for eons)

And hands are washed multiple times during food prep with soap, and dried using paper towels

In the long run ... ya it might be overkill ... or do little to nothing
As per the naysayers
But I don’t really believe that
The Expert Data tells us 2 important things about Covid
1- It’s easily spread ... by breathing in spittle ... or hand to face contamination
And most importantly
2- it’s easy to kill

My plan is to slow this sucker down
By killing it off before it gets an opportunity to spread thru my house

People are going too far with this. I'd rather live normally and perhaps catch a virus than live in fear. This fear is going to make irreparable damage to the society and more serious than the virus. This is a respiratory disease. Just wash your hands as normal. For example, i always assume my hands my hands are dirty coming in from outside. I wash my hands before and after eating (any virus i touched from package surface had been washed). I wash my hands many times while preparing meal. I wash my hands before and after placing bought groceries. I haven't changed much my routine since virus. I don't wear stupid gloves. I do wear mask, but only indoors not when walking around. Do you worry when you get in the car if you'll get into an accident? No, you drive as carefully as you can and you enjoy the ride. Based on numbers this virus is nothing compared to people's fear.

moebius2 wrote: ↑ People are going too far with this. I'd rather live normally and perhaps catch a virus than live in fear. This fear is going to make irreparable damage to the society and more serious than the virus. This is a respiratory disease. Just wash your hands as normal. For example, i always assume my hands my hands are dirty coming in from outside. I wash my hands before and after eating (any virus i touched from package surface had been washed). I wash my hands many times while preparing meal. I wash my hands before and after placing bought groceries. I haven't changed much my routine since virus. I don't wear stupid gloves. I do wear mask, but only indoors not when walking around. Do you worry when you get in the car if you'll get into an accident? No, you drive as carefully as you can and you enjoy the ride. Based on numbers this virus is nothing compared to people's fear.

Easy to say ... the younger you are.

It truly can be a case of life or death for many over the age of say 45 / 50

Of Canada’s 37 Million population ... about 17 Million are 45+

https://www.statista.com/statistics/444 ... age-group/

Which is EXACTLY WHY the risk is so great ... and people are taking it so seriously.

And for the record ... deaths are still happening in the under 45 age group too. And in many cases to otherwise perfectly healthy individuals. It’s all about how severe a dose you get ... and how your body reacts ... which no one can predict

Ever had pneumonia ?

It’s not something to be taken lightly ... Covid is pneumonia on steroids by all accounts. Even people who survive say it’s been a living hell. Most thought they were going to die for sure. Felt like they were drowning (sort of were ... as their lungs were filled with fluid )

Nothing to mess with ... the thought ... BRING IT ON ... is truly very naive / foolish

I don’t worry drastically when I get in a car ... but I do strap on my seat belt... knowing that doing so improves the odds of survival in my favour.

Same with Covid. Any measures I can take to lessen the odds of its MULTIPLYING is important

(NOTE - Car accident ratios are pretty constant ... they don’t multiply exponentially... where Covid does. Covid has claimed over 4000+ Cdns thus far, and fortunately we are slowing it down ... on the other hand ... it’s at 71,000+ deaths in the USA now ... and growing at a rate of about 3000 per day. If all things were equal. at 10x the population ... they should be at 40,000 ... or we should be at 7100 Deaths. All I know is THANK GOODNESS that isn’t the case for us. And that our actions are keeping the numbers much much lower. People can snicker at the masks, gloves, and food handling practices all they want ... but clearly it’s all making a difference here in Canada. AND THATS A GOOD THING ... for ALL OF US ... including you )

I am closer to 50, but still don't worry too much.
And i have parents who are much older and more at risk.
There are many more infected than the testing can ever reach (so far testing here had focused only if you have symptoms), so the death rate may be much smaller than official rate. There is risk of course. But some ppl don't realize that lockdown was implemented only to help the unprepared health care handle the load and not to eradicate the disease. It is highly probable that most of us will get it anyway. Which doesn't mean one shouldn't be careful, but also means not living in fear. The stupid lockdown is preventing me to go to doctor or dentist for other issues. Yes, there are many other things and diseases besides covid19. People still die of cancer and still get married. We're need to continue living with the virus as normally as possible. Wiping off packages or leaving them on a porch for a week is what i call a waste of time. There is no benefit to it.

I Lysol spray Boxes, bags and whatever I can

i usually just let the items sit in the bags for 3 days so the virus dies by itself. i dont have wipes to waste.

the most important thing is to wash your hands before eating. its not like the virus is going to jump off the packaging and then fly into your mouth.

Yes, I disinfect the groceries after returning home from the store
No, I do not

The options made it sound like we either:
a. Spray toxic chemicals onto fruits, let it sit there for 10 minutes and then bite on it.
b. We don't do that.

mmm.. those yummy quats

I don’t know. The way I see it, even if there were covid germs on the groceries, it will not transmit unless you don’t wash your hands and touch your face.