A Michigan doctor has released a helpful video detailing the steps you should take in order to safely bring food products into your home during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen, a family physician who’s been practising in Grand Rapids for 20 years, uploaded the instructional video to YouTube last month in an effort to teach viewers how to best disinfect their groceries, as well as their takeout meals, to keep themselves and their families as safe as possible.
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Although many of us are taking proper precautions while we’re at the store, we may not be keeping up those same hygenic habits once we get home.
It’s easy to think you and your products are safe once you’ve retreated inside and are away from the potential threat of bacteria.
But the fact of the matter is you’re probably going to use your bare hands to put those products away — the same ones you refused to touch at the store without latex gloves on.
As Dr. VanWingen explains in his video, new reports have shown the coronavirus can live on cardboard for up to an hour.
So it’s crucial that we take the necessary steps to disinfect these products, like cereal boxes and milk cartons, once we’ve brought them inside of our home.
Thankfully, VanWingen’s video has outlined several tips he suggests viewers follow in order to stay as safe and as healthy as possible.
1. Try not to bring grocery bags into your home unless absolutely necessary.
VanWingen suggests leaving non-perishable products in your car, garage, or on your porch for at least three days to ensure you aren’t bringing virus particles inside.
Of course, this tip isn’t very realistic for most families, so VanWingen goes on to explain how you can clean those products if they do pass through your front door.
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2. Sanitize your workspace with a standard disinfectant.
Before you even start cleaning your groceries, begin by cleaning the space where you plan on unpacking those products.
You should also designate one side of the space (table, counter, etc.) to be the “clean” side, and the other the “dirty” side. In the video, VanWingen separates these two areas with a piece of blue tape.
3. Determine which products are safe and which require certain forms of disinfecting.
Placing his grocery bags on the “dirty” side of his counter, VanWingen helpfully goes through and shows viewers which products should be cleaned, and how.
Plastics, like pill bottles, should be cleaned with a disinfectant wipe. Cardboard, which we know can hold the coronavirus for an hour, can either be sprayed with disinfectant, or tossed completely in favor of a different storing method, such as the plastic bag inside a cereal box which contains the actual cereal.
Place bread into a separate, clean storage container, and wash fruits and vegetables individually 20 seconds.
4. For takeout items, hold the wrapper and keep the food free from contact.
“Coronavirus does not do well in food,” VanWingen explains. “It’s the wrappers I’m more concerned about.”
Without touching the takeout food itself, carefully use the wrapper to place the items and sauces on clean plates. Then microwave the food to make extra certain any potential coronavirus germs have been killed.
Since it was posted on March 24, VanWingen’s YouTube video has been viewed more than 25 million times.
He’s also since posted a brief update video to the original where he clarifies that only nonperishable items should be kept out of the house, if possible. Perishables like meat should not be left out of refrigerators.
He also retracted one of his earlier steps involving vegetables in which he said they should be washed in soapy water. Experts are now advising people to wash their produce in clean running water without the use of soap.
