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University of Arizona researchers analyzed
the number and kinds of germs found on grocery store shopping carts. They
discovered that their handles contain more bacteria, fecal matter, and
saliva than do public toilets.
In fact, they found such germs as the diarrhea-causing Campylobacter
and the life-threatening bacterium Salmonella.
SEO-writer.com calls the problem a "shopping cart sickness."
[SEO-writer.com: "Protecting
toddlers from 'shopping carta sickness'"]
The University
of Arizona
researchers tested sixty grocery store shopping carts for their bacterial
content. They made their study in the Los
Angeles, California
area.
Their conclusion stated that they found more bacteria than what they
measured on toilet seats, flush handles, and other toilet parts in 100
public restrooms.
The bacteria found by the researchers on the handles of shopping carts came
from chicken drippings and other meat drippings, while saliva, mucus,
urine, and fecal matter was found to come primarily from children sitting
in the cart seats.
The ABC News article “Shopping-Cart Wash Fends Off Germs” states that U.S.
environmental microbiologist. Charles
"Chuck" P, Gerba (University of Arizona) commented on this hygiene
problem.
He stated, "They [children] don't necessarily have the best
sanitary habits. And you're putting your broccoli right where the kid's
butt was."
According to the ABC
News article, twenty supermarkets around the United States have taken a new
and innovative way to counter these germs.
They have installed “… sanitizing devices for
shopping carts. The machines look like mini car washes for carts and spray
a misty peroxide solution over the entire cart after every use that is
guaranteed to kill 99 percent of germs, including E. coli and salmonella.”
Check out a picture of one of these shopping cart purification devices,
called the “Pure Cart
System.”
Its website states that one million germs are on the handle of food
shopping carts.
The Pure Cart System disinfects carts by spraying them with a fine mist of
a peroxide solution.
Further information on these dirty grocery carts appears in The Wall
Street Journal article “Taking the Gross Out of the Grocery Cart.”
Some
reports conducted by television stations include:
KOCO-TV: (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma):
"Millions Of
Bacteria Found On Metro Shopping Carts"
KRON-TV (San Francisco,
California): "Shopping
Cart Shocker"
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