Food sanitizing at home – one doctor’s recommendations

Shop safer while you are staying home during the coronavirus pandemic. Keep your home clean with tips for food sanitizing at home. 

Whether it is curbside pickup, delivery, or bringing your groceries home, you want to reduce your risk no matter what. This doctor offers details about the virus and how to protect those in your home.

These concepts apply to food sanitizing at home as well as keeping your surfaces clean. The virus can live on surfaces for a varied amount of time. When you bring your groceries or food into the house, this doctor has tips so you can do the best you can to keep your house clear of the virus. Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen provides some guidance for keeping your home sterile and clear of the Covid-19 virus.

Other professionals have their own opinions on this doctor’s recommendations. Basically, do the BEST you can and be aware of what you touch and when in doubt, wash wash wash your hands. 

While shopping:

• Commit to purchase what you touch. Only touch what you intend to buy. 
• Do not go if you have respiratory issues.
• Minimize your time at the store and get two weeks worth of items.

At home:

• Use standard disinfectant to clean off your counters and create a clean side.
• Put the groceries on the “dirty side” of the counter. He uses painters tape to visually separate the counter.
• Wipe plastics with disinfectant when you take them out of the bag and place it on the clean side.
• For cardboard, coronavirus can live on the box for 24 hours but if the inside is packaged in a bag, take the bag out and put it on the clean side and throw out the box.
• For bagged fresh veggies, you can have a helper open the refrigerator, take the veggies out of the bag and put them directly into the fridge without having to touch the packaging.
• Clean your hands throughout the process.
• Repackage bagged items into clean containers without touching, dump them in! (like bread)
• Plastic packages or more “shiny” packages can be cleaned by wiping with disinfectant.
• For fruit, you can wash the fruit like you wash your hands. Fill a bucket or your sink in soapy water and then clean them and place them to dry on a clean surface.

Take out/Curbside/Delivery (See our grocery & market list)

• With clean hands, put your plates on the clean side of the counter. 
• Place the packaging on the “dirty side” of the counter.
• Remove your food from packaging and put them on your own clean plates without the packaging touching the food. Same with sauces!  Wash your hands!
• Microwave your food.
• Remove the packaging from your counter and disinfect everything. 
• WASH YOUR HANDS!
• Microwaving before eating can kill some coronavirus species but freezing does not necessarily kill those viruses.

Here is a list of local grocery stores and smaller markets.

This is the CDC website for updates.