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Only 15% of Americans avoid food poisoning by doing just one thing

Having food poisoning is not pretty, either for you or those around you.

Web Watch knows – the one time it hit us, we were trying to enjoy a group outing while on a trip away from home.  You’d be surprised how quickly getting that ill, that quickly will identify who your real traveling companions are (hint: that number is close to zero during that time period — when it comes to food poisoning, you’re going to be mainly on your own).

So what can you do to avoid getting food poisoning?

Unfortunately, the majority of food poisoning occurs while you’re away from home, eating at restaurants with poor health scores or who happened to receive tainted food themselves.

In other words, when you’re eating out, there’s not much you can do if someone serves you bad food that really, really disagrees with you.

Reusable Grocery Totes Solid Color 5 Pack
Reusable Grocery Totes Solid Color 5 Pack

But eating at home is another story, and there is something you can do to practice safe food handling and minimize issues that could arise.

Want to know what it is?  (Of course you do – that’s why you’re here…)

You know those reusable, recycled grocery totes that are all the rage these days?  Yeah – they’re the problem.

Web Watch isn’t saying not to use them, but that you should use them wisely.

According to a study from the ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS, reusable grocery bags are filled with germs, bacteria, and other food-illness inducing critters – and they get there because environmentally-concerned bag users are cross-contaminating food in the bags… and then not cleaning the bags out after each use.

You know that raw chicken container?  Bet you didn’t clean the bag after putting that chicken juice in there.

You know those unwashed vegetables?  Yup – they’re brushing up against the sides of the bag, leaving friends like E.Coli or salmonella to be discovered on your next trip.

All you need to do are these three things:

  • Wash your reusable tote regularly, either in the washing machine or by hand.  Be sure to use hot, soapy water.  This is the one thing that only 15% of Americans do to their totes.  If they can do it – you can too.
  • Clean everything that the tote touches, like your kitchen counter
  • Store your bags properly — like NOT storing them in the trunk of your car.

You may even want to go further, and color-code your bags so you know what’s been in them.  For example: only use green totes for vegetables, red totes for raw meat, and brown totes for canned goods.