Health Advice

Note: Nothing on this website should be considered expert medical advice. This information is gleaned from reputable sources, like Consumer Reports and top-tier scientific journals, alongside well-informed hunches. We take no responsibility for anything that happens, except for the good stuff.

There are still a lot of things we don't know about the coronavirus, but there's plenty we do. Here are some tips for safety handling your groceries — without going crazy.

Are my groceries safe to handle?

• Most news reports say that there is low risk of contracting the virus as a result of exposure from food or food packaging. That said, these same reports often say that there is a little bit of risk from handling packages from the mail. This is confusing. 
• The virus can live on some surfaces longer than others. It tends to last longest on nonporous surfaces like pastic and metal. The exception is copper, which quickly kills the virus. Maybe we should build more things with copper. Let's worry about that later.
• Nothing is fool-proof. You can only do your best, and you don't have super-human eyesight that lets you see copies of the virus. If you absentmindly touch your face after handling some groceries that haven't been wiped down, take a deep breath and forgive yourself. Maybe wipe your face off with a damp paper towel in a direction away from your eyes, mouth, and nose. But try to fend off any self-directed anger. You are trying.

How can I disinfect my groceries, just to be safe?

• Dry goods

• For shelf-stable items, consider leaving them in a corner of your home for two or three days. There won't be any harm done to the food, and, provided you have enough to eat for those few days, you can be confident that any copies of the virus that happened to hitch a ride on your canned beans will have broken down by then.
• For bonus points, leave these items in sunlight. Viruses don't like UV light, and the sunlight is full of UV light (which is good for more than giving people sunburns). That said, we don't how long it would take sunlight to kill the virus. And any windows will reduce the amount of UV. Don't count on it, but it might help a little.

Refridgerated and Frozen goods

• Don't do what I did, which is fill a sink with hot, soapy water with ambitions to quickly dunk each bag of frozen food. It turns out frozen food is pretty good at poking holes in bags, inviting soapy water to seep in if you try giving your food a hot bath. Lesson learned. 
• Instead, consider hot water, a sponge and some dish soap.