Read this if you are fed up of washing groceries!

I never really subscribed to this disinfecting of groceries. Packets get a perfunctory wipe and fruit and veg get washed and/or peeled before eating.

Never washed/wiped any of mine, put them away, then wash hands thoroughly.

At the start I removed as much packaging and sprayed stuff with antibacterial spray.
I wore gloves to pick up letters and deliveries.
(MrC is clinically extremely vulnerable.)
I've pretty much stopped all that now as I have seen quite a lot of articles etc debunking the fomite theory.
It seems that all the handwashing and deep cleaning is a bit of a red herring and a distraction to make people think that they have more control.

I started disinfecting food packaging at the beginning of lockdown but got fed up with the taste of dettol on my food! Luckily the lovely Chris Whitty then mentioned how unlikely it was to catch Covid from food stuff as long as you wash your hands before prepping and again before eating.

I've never disinfected my food.

I just put shopping/deliveries away and wash my hands when done.
I have an antiviral had cleanser which I use on the rare occasions I go out.

Hand ?

Same here Kalu

Never done any of this. Just wash hands well when I come in from shopping, put shopping away as it is, wash hands again. Wash hands thoroughly before touching any food, tins, packets.
Open post straightaway, then wash hands again.

Think the makers of Dettol, Domestos, Lifebuoy etc. will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I saw it yesterday too and it makes excellent sense.
My only reason for not sharing it at the time was I felt I was already saying too much about Covid etc and didn’t always meet with some people’s approval ]
Glad somebody else has - common sense

I too stopped after the first month or so, but I know a few people who still religiously disinfect or store in the garage for 3 days before using. I only ever cleaned packets/tins/bottles etc. I just washed fruit and veg in the normal way. I think when (if?) this is over, we will have learnt a great deal about how to deal with any future pandemics!

I started wiping the groceries with the 'plain' dettol wipes(not the lemon ones!) at beginning when it was first mentioned, and i continue to do so.it does give you backache though, but so would bending down to just put them away?

I've done much the same as FannyCornforth. For weeks I wiped all packaged foods with a milton solution. Plus door handles, and anything in the car which is touched. But as it became apparent that it was predominantly airborne by droplets and aerosols I stopped.

That is an excellent article (or do I just think it is because it backs up what I've been thinking for quite some time?) I think it should be posted on other covid threads.

I thoroughly wash fruit though, not 'wipe' (if its in net package)and i wont buy fruit& veg not in packaging any more.I do believe in saving earths resources, but i think less plastic bags, while where in middle of a pandemic, is unfortunately the wrong way to go right now!

MawB2

I saw it yesterday too and it makes excellent sense.
My only reason for not sharing it at the time was I felt I was already saying too much about Covid etc and didn’t always meet with some people’s approval ]
Glad somebody else has - common sense

It's not exactly ,common sense', though, is it MawB2? It's looking at what the *reputable science is saying and judging accordingly. (I emphasise reputable because the anti-maskers, anti vaxxers claim to be following science, too..)

I, incidentally, think it backs up calls to close pubs and eating places, or at least not allowing anyone to stay inside them.

So long as we recycle or reuse these plastic bags/coverings, to be honest i think its much safer.And open market stalls where folk can touch the foods willy-nilly, should be abolished, certainly right now.

I wiped the shopping once but stopped after Dr fauci said it was not necessary, I did feel that it was OTT. I do wash hands after touching the bags.

I only wiped tins etc for a couple of weeks but I never tainted food with disinfectant. I now put everything away, wash fruit and vegetables before use, wash my hands after each procedure and especially wash my hands after putting rubbish in the wheelie bin or I have been out shopping for any reason. I attempt to apply common sense without going overboard,

Teacheranne, just which kind of dettol were you using?&how much? Ive never used the brown dettol antiseptic in bottles- it would make food dettol- tasting i suppose??(maybe you could pop a drop of that in the clothes wash?) But not on food items/packets! I just use the white packaged dettol wipes, or the biodegradable white/green packet wipes.these are plain, non- tainted,non- scented wipes.i dont wipe the bags with fruit&veg with the small holes in.i do wash these thoroughly though under hotter water a few seconds.

I have never bothered can see the point unless you totally sterilise every nook and cranny it’s a waste of time and energy
Bacterial wipes will do nothing it’s a virus

Calendargirl

Never done any of this. Just wash hands well when I come in from shopping, put shopping away as it is, wash hands again. Wash hands thoroughly before touching any food, tins, packets.
Open post straightaway, then wash hands again.

Think the makers of Dettol, Domestos, Lifebuoy etc. will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I have always done, throughout, exactly this. Do worry about all those wipes being discarded, thought. How many are bio-degradeable and will break down - or do they just add to the horrific waste that is slowly, but much more surely than this virus, killing our planet?

Saw this as well.

I've never disinfected food or anything else, other than normal cleaning. It worries me that so much bleach is in use, and I agree Calendargirl, I wish I had shares in some of these companies.

Sadly many people will never use their masks properly, just as they still don't wash their hands properly. I still see women leaving public toilets without washing their hands.

Same here- never washed groceries, just hands and wash fruit and veg. Only change I have made, is to re-wash any pre washed stuff, like bags fo salad- although generally buy a head of lettuce and wash/prepae myself.

Truly worries about the use of wipes- an absolute ecological disaster as in the UK - they all go into landfill- medieval and very worrying- all those viruses piling up into landfill

And those are just the people that we see! I am concerned that the same people - and those who sneeze all over stuff - and don't wear their masks properly or at all, are the same people who pick up my groceries before me, to read labels and to pick over stuff, handle tins, packets and put it back or change their minds. The trolley handles we can wipe, just in case. We can wash our own hands thoroughly but we never see how little others do towards keeping us all Covid free. So I still find it quite hard to relax and accept the so-called hygiene habits of strangers. And if I see just one more nose hanging over a mask or a mask held in the hand or worn around the neck, I might just have an all-time hissy fit........