Are you still wiping groceries?

[Lovely1a2b3c]

Just that! We have been wiping food shopping items as some of the family are vulnerable (not shielding) but wondering if it's time to stop?

@JinglingHellsBells

Are other countries advising everyone to wash their shopping, then

@vanillandhoney read my post.
Yes, in China they were. Very much so.

No other country has had such fatalities as the UK so I'd rather spend 30 mins wiping packets than the rest of my days 6 ft under, thanks.

I did read your post. You didn't say that any other country had told people to wipe down their shopping. Now you're saying China did.

I'm sure it can be transmitted via surfaces but so can flu, colds and huge number of other illnesses. If grocery shopping is so disgusting, why did nobody wipe their stuff down before now?

for all of you who say the risk is small , you do know that there is still a LOT of research going on to actually check how long the virus stays on certain surfaces and how temperature affects it? The answers are not all clear yet.

We are all still in the middle of a huge amount of data collection and research which is why things change all the time .

@SusieOwl4

for all of you who say the risk is small , you do know that there is still a LOT of research going on to actually check how long the virus stays on certain surfaces and how temperature affects it? The answers are not all clear yet.

We are all still in the middle of a huge amount of data collection and research which is why things change all the time .

Absolutely.

But as I'm going out to work (which involves going in/out of people's homes), the risk from my grocery shopping is, to me, minimal - especially compared to the risk of working.

If people feel better washing their shopping, then let them crack on.

Er never did???? I have survived so far

@vanillandhoney

because this is a new , much more virulent and more dangerous virus and it is a pandemic .

Plus perhaps now that people are taking extra precautions perhaps we will have less cases of flu and other contagious diseases ?

It could be a goof thing all round .

Haven't been and not going to start

An article today, advising people to quarantine dried good for 3 days and wash groceries:

www.kentlive.news/whats-on/shopping/shoppers-at-highest-risk-catching-4239460.amp

Apparently, checkouts are the highest risk area for shoppers for the corona virus!

But if touching groceries is so dangerous, why haven't we had thousands of supermarket workers going down with COVID?

The risk is small though. Two confirmed cases in my county yesterday. Maybe more are asymptomatic. So maybe there are a few dozen people in my county of 2 million who have the virus but are still going to work or shopping. Chances of one of them coughing onto my groceries is incredibly small. Then I have to touch the very same part of the packet, transfer it onto my fingers, fail to wash it off again, touch some food, eat that food, ingest enough virus to make me ill. I really don't think there is much chance of that.

My DM is taking anything that she can out of the packet or spraying everything with a diluted bleach spray. Anything which she can’t do these things to go in the garage for 3 days!!! In fairness my DF is very high risk, though not officially on the shielding list, and neither have them have been out anywhere apart from the allotment since this began....

We are still yes

I believe it has been encouraged by healthcare professionals since the year dot to wash fruit and veg before you eat it anyway.
There was in 2011 an outbreak of E Coli from soil on leeks and potatoes, which made 250 people unwell.

Now, there is a counter-argument that says 250 of a population of 67 million is a very small proportion, and you've got to eat a peck before you die....

The risk is small though

The risk is very very very very very very VERY small. People who are shielded I can understand being more cautious. But for everyone else it is so over the top. Every winter there are coughs, colds, norovirus and whatever else doing the rounds - you don't bleach all groceries to eliminate that risk.

And don't give me the "well I'd prefer not to die thanks" nonsense as the likelihood of that is very remote too.

I've never wiped my shopping.

When I get home from the supermarket I do exactly the same thing I've done all my life.

Bring shopping in, unpack it and then wash my hands.

And I've always washed fruit and vegetables thoroughly before use.

Most food stuff I buy sits in the cupboard or fridge for a few days before it's used anyway.

I don't know about in the warehouses, but I've yet to see anyone in Tesco coughing, sneezing or spiting on the merchandise on the shelves but people tend to be pretty well behaved where I live anyway, so can't imagine anyone doing something like that.

If someone like a delivery driver or a packer has sneezed, coughed or touched your shopping AND they have the virus (often without symptoms) the virus can be on the packaging.

That's just a long list of if.
If the driver has the virus, and if they sneeze on it, and if it's on there in enough quantity, and if it's still alive when you touch it, and if you transfer it to your hands, and if you put your hands in your mouth without washing them, then you may catch the virus.
Each of these is a small % - multiplied together it's tiny.
Much more likely to catch it at the shops, or at work, for those still going.

We've been giving things a quick wipe but my enthusiasm for doing so is waning. The risk seems tiny.

@Hobnobswantshernameback

Yeah Cos I'm not someone who fancies eating bleach flavoured apples I'm living in filth Mumsnet ridiculous absolutes at their finest God some people can be twats There is a ....perish threat thought.... middle ground

Absolutely. It’s bonkers to bleach shopping. People will look at this in future years as some kind of Covid-enhanced irrational paranoia. Just hope this anxiety doesn’t rub off on their kids and they will laugh about the time that mum washes all the bananas in soapy water.

Still washing anything that needs to go in the fridge, so milk, yoghurt, butter etc. The rest sits in the garage for 72 hours and I don't bother washing that when it comes into the house.

I don't because I've got OCD which has previously manifested itself in obsessive cleaning. I've worked so hard to finally get myself into a good place, there's no way I'm risking going down that rabbit hole again!

Never did .

Just change clothes , put in washing machine and shower when I get home from work ( as I always did pre Covid funnily enough ) , wash my hands and socially distance .

Yes still wiping.

Things that can get wet - meat in plastic packaging/milk in plastic bottles, for example - are 'washed up' in warm soapy water.

Fruit and Veg washed as usual

Decant-able items decanted: rice/flour etc and packaging thrown.

Other stuff gets a spray of dettol or water/zolflora solution, and sits on a table for an hour til it's dry, then gets put away.

It is a fucking faff and I keep wondering if I can stop, but then I know that I will just end up washing my hands every time i make tea/open the fridge/touch anything, so for us, it's worth it for peace of mind.

We didn't wipe the shopping for the first time today since it all started. It felt good!

Still doing so.
The amount of people catching it whilst shielding suggests the shopping is a risk factor or it’s genuinely airborne or carried by mosquitoes or something.
Also the contact tracing in Italy/Spain that showed people being infected just by sitting in the same church pew an hour later.

All the posters feeling proud they’ve never washed the shopping aren’t terrified of dying of this like some of us are.

Also have cleaning related OCD, and this isn’t going to set me back as this is a proportional reaction to the current situation so it was good to up the cleaning and scale back when needed.

Do we have Covid19 carrying mosquitos in the U.K.?