With a lack of certainty of how COVID-19 is transmitted, many of us are wondering if exposure to items, like groceries, poses a risk. A recent post by Maria Godoy, Senior Editor at NPR, provided insights into this concern.

In this post, Maria consulted with infectious disease specialists, virology, and food safety experts to get their opinion on whether or not it is necessary to sanitize groceries after bringing them home.

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health explains, “The probability of getting infected from a contaminated surface is not zero, but it is fairly low.”

Because the risk is so low, instead of putting lots of effort towards disinfecting groceries when you get home, it is better to focus your attention on the higher risk dangers you will encounter while grocery shopping.

To minimize exposure risk when shopping, the experts suggest:

• Go alone and focus on distancing yourself from the people around you, including the cashier.
• Avoid stores that do not limit how many guests are in at a time.
• Bring a shopping list with you, so you can shop quickly to minimize the time you’re in the store.
• Wear a mask.
• Opt-out of using gloves by instead washing your hands regularly, sanitizing the cart/basket you use, and using no-touch payment options, when possible.

“I’ve seen a lot of people wearing gloves out in public, and they just kind of wear them all day and do a lot of normal activities, like talk on their phone, potentially eat, potentially handle food that they’re going to eat later with those gloves on and that’s not great practice,” Angela Rasmussen exma.

If you decide you would feel more comfortable disinfecting your groceries, avoid using disinfecting spray & wipes. Most food packaging is not made to withstand disinfectants and using them can actually contaminate your food. The caveat being fruits and vegetables, which is suggested to simply soak in cool water.

If you would like to read more about minimizing your risk at the grocery store, click here.

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