What do shopping cleaners do with the insides of packets?

[Floatyboat]

Just wondering how people that like to clean their shopping deal with things inside the packaging.

Obviously you'd presume tins and cereal etc would not have been contaminated in the last 72 hours but what about other stuff, short shelf life items. Some fruit and veg can be from farm to fork in 48 hours. Bread as well won't have been in the bag for long.

Do you just leave it before opening, cook it all before eating or wash it? But you can't really wash bread.

This has also got me thinking about other things that may have recently touched in non obvious ways.

If you're r not vulnerable just get it already and get it over with, the amount of time consumed by this sort of worrying must be draining.

I think you can drive yourself to the brink of insanity and beyond, if you start overthinking this stuff.

I am in the extremely vulnerable group and food packaging and post/parcels do not worry me 1 jot.

IMHO the knobs and handles ON your food cupboards pose a greater threat to health, than what's inside them.

If you are really, really worried about bread, to the extent that you are wondering how to clean it, just don't buy it - or, bake your own - if you can find any flour.

@Floatyboat I've seen you recommending putting things in the oven on lots of other threads, too. Please don't. There's so much that can go wrong, particularly if it's a gas oven. Lots of things are flammable even at a low heat.

Even at 70c?

I’m wondering about clothes that have been delivered. Obviously I’ve wiped down the packaging it’s come in, but what about the clothing inside?

Surely you just wash them?

Bury everything in the back garden for 48 hours
Then microwave on medium for 48 seconds
Incantation invoking mother earth protection and wisdom
Quick once over with a flame thrower
Good to go

It's exhausting just reading these threads.

Take it from someone who couldn't work for 3 years because my OCD was so severe - some of you need to watch out you aren't heading in that direction (or sending your children that way).

Wash before wearing?

Fruit and veg that is peeled or very easy to wipe works better for me at the moment than things that I'd want to wash extra well.

We were ready early on to switch to making bread rather than buying from a shop, to avoid the worry about when it was handled. The rough surface of bread is the type a virus shouldn't live on for long.

I'm really surprised at how many people are confident door handles need caution but somehow think similar smooth surfaces of food packaging are magically immune from carrying virus from people who have handled them.

OCD involves doing something compulsively for no reason though (surely?) I will be totally happy to give up all the hand washing and staying in if there's ever a vaccine!

I'm really surprised at how many people are confident door handles need caution but somehow think similar smooth surfaces of food packaging are magically immune from carrying virus from people who have handled them.

I don't think packaging is immune, I simply think that the risk any virus on the packaging would be alive enough to infect you by the time you get it that I'd rather accept the miniscule risk and not risk my OCD returning.

In any case, even on the small chance there was loads of virus on packaging, if I'm washing my hands as we're all meant to it would kill it anyway.

OCD involves doing something compulsively for no reason though (surely)

Naturally but do you really not see how something like this could trigger OCD developing in large swathes of the population? Imagine the effect on children who are witnessing their parents bleaching groceries. It isn't healthy.

I don't do anything. Wash my hands after putting the shopping away but that's it. I don't quarantine my post or refuse to open parcels for 72 hours either.

I honestly think the extremes that some people are going to are really unhealthy.

I wash my fruit. I don't wash my veg unless I am eating it raw

I'm really surprised at how many people are confident door handles need caution but somehow think similar smooth surfaces of food packaging are magically immune from carrying virus from people who have handled them.

I don't wash my door handles either. I just wash my hands when I get home from anywhere.

I think if you were heading that way then yes it could be triggering.
I'm not too worried about my dc - they've watched me clean the bathroom for years without showing the slightest inclination to do the same!
Bleach on food is too far though

Government Guidance published today - no mention of bleaching food products/packaging:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-consumers-on-coronavirus-covid-19-and-food/guidance-for-consumers-on-coronavirus-covid-19-and-food

The risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) cross-contamination to food and food packaging is very low.

they've watched me clean the bathroom for years without showing the slightest inclination to do the same!

That really isn't the same.

I know what I'm talking about here. I work in mental health. This kind of thing is already having an absolutely enormous effect.

There will be plenty of people (out of well meaning ignorance) who will think oh well, OCD, not as bad as covid 19. I can honestly say I would rather be dead than suffer through my OCD at its worst again. So no, I won't be sterilising my groceries.

For those shocked at others using weak bleach near food....Milton solution is weak bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and you don't even have to rinse it off baby's bottles. I'll take my chances with the bleach thanks.

I'm not too worried about my dc - they've watched me clean the bathroom for years without showing the slightest inclination to do the same!

But cleaning the bathroom is normal and necessary.

Bleaching your shopping and quarantining your post is not.

It's not that food packaging is immune and door handles are not @eeyoresmiles, but simply that you are more likely to touch a door handle, kitchen cupboard drawer/door handle, fridge door handle, kettle handle etc etc several times in the course of a day and not necessarily wash your hands.

Unless you are emptying or rearranging your fridge and cupboard produce almost hourly, for most people, I would suspect, stuff is unpacked, put away and not handled again until it's used and the packaging thrown away.

Given that we are talking foodstuffs here, most people, I hope, would wash their hands, several times, during the course of food preparation.

But, as with most things in life, we all do what we feel we need to do.

After all the government ‘advice’ so far that has been completely wrong or worse, lies (mask usage) then pardon me if I don’t 100% believe them on their food advice and do what I think is best for me!

Worriedmummy1976

You can do whatever you like, just please don't be telling the rest of us we should be doing the same.

I will, however, permit people to wipe over their milk bottles, if they are that way inclined.😉

This is the level of bonkersness we’ve reached. People are driving themselves nuts. Just take reasonable precautions about your own hygiene and physical preparedness. We will probably all get this virus to some degree over the forthcoming months unless there’s a vaccine. So try and find a balance between being sensible and completely OTT.