“Dirtier than the toilet”: fecal bacteria detected on 72% of supermarket shopping carts

 

A U.S. study found that 72% of supermarket shopping carts carry fecal bacteria, sometimes much more than the toilet. Should you review your racing habits or simply change some reflexes?

IN BRIEF

• University of Arizona study: 72% of the supermarket shopping carts tested carry fecal bacteria, including some potentially dangerous strains of Escherichia coli.
• Caddy handles, child seats and body touch screens accumulate in microbes for lack of regular cleaning after post-Covid release.
• Between frequent digestive disorders and fragility of some audiences, this nest with everyday microbes could well modify your reflexes at the supermarket.

You grab a shopping cart, you put your bag, sometimes your child in the seat, and you go between the shelves. This banal gesture nevertheless hides a discreet guest: the microbes left by hundreds of hands before yours, rarely erased by a real cleaning.

A study conducted by the University of Arizona on 85 carts in four U.S. states showed that 72% of the cadd i es tested carried fecal bacteria, sometimes in impressive quantities. Other measures evoke a microbial load up to 361 times higher than on a toilet door handle. Enough to revive the issue of hygiene in supermarkets. Watch the video below.

Fecal bacteria on shopping carts: what the American study reveals

Microbiologist Charles Gerba took samples from the cadie handles: 72% contained bacteria of fecal origin and, on a subgroup of 36 trolleys analyzed more finely, half housed Escherichia coli (E. coli). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recalls that some strains of E. coli are harmless, others cause severe diarrhea, with about 70 000 infections per year in the United States for the most aggressive forms.

Researchers also point to a striking contrast: the handfuls of shopping carts harbor more germs than many public toilet surfaces, which are cleaned several times a day. A bacterial load analysis speaks of more than 73 000 units forming a colony per square centimeter on a cart, which is 361 times more than a sanitary door handle. The risk, however, depends on the “dose” swallowed or brought to the mouth: touching a dirty shopping cart does not make you sick every time.

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Why supermarket shopping carts have become microbe nests

A cart runs non-stop between the parking lot, the hands of the customers, the child seats, the rain, sometimes the bird droppings. Behavioral studies show that a large proportion of people do not systematically wash their hands when leaving the toilet, then manipulate car keys, phone, shopping cart handles. Add the packets of meat that run a little, the diapers placed in the baby seat, and you get a persistent microbial cocktail.

During the Covid period, many supermarkets set up a frequent cleaning of shopping carts. Employees interviewed explain that this reflex has largely been lost. Objects much affected on the shelf, as well as automatic body touch screens, also show traces of fecal bacteria in several studies, sometimes with resistant germs such as the golden staphylococcus MRSA.

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Several measures make it possible to ensure that you buy a surimi called “quality”. The latter must thus contain at least 40% fish and, ideally, should be free of glutamate, sorbitol and polyphosphate. Nevertheless, natural and unprocessed fish are much richer in protein, minerals and vitamins than the famous orange sticks. If the budget allows, they are to be preferred in the shopping cart.