Ruminations

COVID Food Contamination? Pshaw! Carry on -- As Usual

"It's really not necessary [to wash everything brought home from grocery shopping]."
"You can have potentially dangerous bacterial pathogens in the sink. And people don't generally tend to wash their sinks very well, or clean them that often."
"This is definitely a no-no [washing fruits and vegetables with soap] because we know that soap actually can cause things like vomiting and/or diarrhea."
"If you're getting any symptoms at all that you think could be related to COVID-19, please do not prepare food for other people."
Jeffrey Farber, professor of food science, University of Guelph

Produce is shown in a grocery store in Toronto on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. An annual report estimates the average Canadian family will pay about $400 more for groceries and roughly $150 more for dining out next year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

While you're out shopping you have the possibility of virus transmission uppermost in mind. In that everyone fears they may touch a surface that is actively infected and transfer the pathogen to themselves inadvertently. So we keep a distance from others, as advised, and are mindful to keep our hands distant from any possible contaminated surfaces. And then, while shopping, the urge to touch loose fruits and vegetables to test for freshness overcomes us and we 'forget'.

Dr. Farber advises that assessing fruit and vegetables with a tender squeeze is to be avoided: "I know people love to touch their tomatoes, but at these times, look at the tomatoes. If they look good, take the ones you want and move on." If a supermarket you're shopping at has failed to provide disinfectant wipes on entering for your hands, and to task employees to disinfect carts and baskets, and have distancing reminders for their customers, shop elsewhere.

When you arrive home and unload your groceries from the car, place the bags on the counter and wash your hands. Once all your groceries have been placed in the refrigerator or the pantry, disinfect the counter where the bags have sat, and wash your hands again. Oh, did we forget something? Right, washing food containers and foods before they're placed into the refrigerator and pantry. Guess we just took it for granted, right?

Evidently wrong. In that it is totally, according to Dr.Farber, unnecessary. Those videos we've seen online that have informed and inspired us to do the same; fill up a sink of soapy water and stick everything into it to rid surfaces of the presence of the pathogen, a now-familiar ritual that eases our minds, believing we've done the right thing, and whatever we've brought into the house is now 'safe' have been delivering an unneeded message, he says.

Do not, dump and dunk fresh fruit, vegetables, snacks and packaged foods into that sink full of soapy water. No less authorities than Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug administration in fact, recommend the use of cold running water to wash fruit and vegetables, before they are eaten and that "should be more than sufficient", for no evidence exists that links COVID-19 transmission to food or its packaging.

Dr.Farber's opinion does carry weight; as former director of the Bureau of Microbial Hazards at Health Canada, with over 35 years of food safety experience at his back. Cross contamination with bacterial pathogens can occur, if the sink had held something such as raw chicken and hadn't been adequately cleansed, so placing food in a sink to rid it of pathogens may be the right ticket to pick some up....