Many restaurants and grocery stores allow you to bring your own reusable bags and containers to buy food in bulk or bring your meal home.
Ask your grocer or restaurateur if they accept consumers’ personal containers. If they do, both of you must approach hygiene carefully.
Consumers must bring clean containers.
Operators must refuse to serve food in dirty containers. If they cannot monitor the cleanliness of the containers, they should not allow this practice in their establishment.
Operators must use hygienic work processes to prevent the risk of contamination. For example, consumers’ containers must not be placed on work surfaces that come in direct contact with food.
Staff who touch consumers’ containers should wash their hands often.
Operators who guarantee that the food they prepare or serve is allergen-free cannot accept customers’ containers.
If food poisoning occurs, any resulting investigations will take the use of consumers’ containers into account.
Cleaning grocery bags
Reusable bags must be cleaned often to avoid cross-contamination.
Use a clean sponge or cloth to wash the bags with hot, soapy water.
Dry the bags inside out, or wipe the inside of the bag dry using a clean, dry cloth.
Fabric bags can easily be washed in the washing machine. Read the label for care instructions.
