In the bid to stay safe in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic, some novel food treatment techniques people have taken to practising at home have emerged. According to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these techniques might be putting people at greater risk.
Below are three of practices that the CDC is warning the public against. It is important to note that in our bid to stay safe from the COVID-19 virus, there are also other diseases that we might get if we are too focused on only one.
1. Disenfecting Food Packages
One of the new practices that have certainly emerged because of the pandemic is that of disinfecting food packages. People have became so afraid of what possible bacteria and virus that the outside world can bring to their homes that they started to spray everything that comes in. While the logic is there, the CDC warns that this can be a poisonous habit.
CDC wants the public to be mindful about the particular types of materials that can be disinfected only.
"Do not use disinfectants designed for hard surfaces, such as bleach or ammonia, on food packaged in cardboard or plastic wrap," the agency explained.
Disenfectants are not substances that we want to go inside our bodies, as much as we want to avoid germs and COVID-19 from doing so.
2. Washing Fruits and Vegetables with Chemical Cleaners
Water should be enough, but because there is a pandemic, it is understandable that some people want the extra precaution of using chemical cleaners to wash their produce. Thanks to the mis-marketing of some companies, already scared consumers actually would buy and use chemical cleaners for their fruits and vegetables.
According to the CDC, caution should be practised.
Washing fruits or veggies with "soap, bleach, sanitizer, alcohol, disinfectant or any other chemical" is likely to be more harmful than beneficial.
Even if you rinse your food thoroughly afterward, this remains a major risk.
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In fact, it is really worth noting that water is enough, even if the world is still struggling through a pandemic. In case you decide to avoid chemical cleaners and use alternative methods, such as using salt, pepper, vinegar, and many more others, the CDC says none of these possible alternatives have been proven to work.
"Salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, and lime juice have not been shown to be effective at removing germs on produce," the CDC explains. This just adds a false sense of security and can become quite costly in the long run.
3. Using Communal Condiments
While eating in restaurants are now allowed as long as your follow health protocols, we can be so used to certain methods of eating outside, which we do not know can be quite harmful now.
In other words, merely wearing masks, or even face shields to a restaurant, socially distancing, or washing hands repeatedly are not enough when we deliberately put ourselves in harm's way. More extra precautionary methods are needed.
One of these is to avoid using communal condiments. The CDC recommends limiting contact with potentially-contaminated surfaces, such communal restaurant menus, if possible. This also means holding menus that hundreds of others, did, ahead of you.
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