FDBusiness.com

In the context of COVID-19, Safefood Ireland releases a list of good practices to follow when handling grocery shopping.

Safefood Ireland highlighted that there is currently no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging and made a list of the basic advice to follow when going shopping:

• Please don’t go shopping if you have COVID-19 symptoms. You can order your groceries online or have some family or friends drop them off instead.
• When you go food shopping, you should wash your hands before you leave the house, avoid touching your face when you’re out and follow social distancing.
• When you come home, you should wash your hands straight away. Wash them again once you have unpacked and put away your shopping.
• It is not necessary to sanitise the outside of food packaging. While there is some evidence that the virus can survive on hard surfaces, the risk from handling food packing is very low and there is no evidence that the illness can be transmitted in this way.
• If you are sanitising surfaces or shopping bags, follow the manufacturer’s instructions about how much time is needed before wiping the sanitiser off.
• Gloves can give a false sense of security. They would need to be changed very frequently to be effective. It’s better to wash your hands often and avoid touching your face.

On top of these recommendations, Safefood Ireland also compiled a full list of Frequently Asked Questions to further help consumers.

See the full list here.