Those green reusable bags that are all the rage? The plastics industry this week released a study concluding that they are nothing more than bacterial totes, which might be scary if it were true. BarfBlog looked at the study’s methodology and then ate through its main points.

To reach their conclusion, the plastics industry studied 25 bags, which is like, five times more than we have sitting in our pantry. They found that 64% of the bags had some form of bacteria, and that 30% had bacteria counts higher than we’d accept in our drinking water.

Um, yeah except that coliform isn’t an indicator of really anything in a shopping bag. It’s a great indicator of water quality, but not great for food (coliforms are all over the place, including on produce). And mean relatively nothing.

The lack of real data is probably why it was reported in CFU/ml (a water measurement — pretty hard to tell what a ml of a shopping bag represents). The most telling data was that no generic E. coli or Salmonella was found.

Not the best methodology design. Or reporting of results.

Keep your reusable bags dry and give them a good wash every couple of weeks and you won’t be devoured by bacteria as the plastics industry laughs in glee.

Are reusable bags really a food safety concern? [BarfBlog]
(Photo: tarale)

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