Registered dietician offers advice on how to stay safer inside the grocery store, and when bringing groceries home

Social and physical distancing has become the norm out of necessity now.

One Saskatoon-based registered dietician has some advice on what to do when you need to get out for groceries, and what to do when you bring them back home.

Brooke Bulloch says some of the messaging on social media recently can be alarming.

“Even I have been exposed to some pretty intense messaging around the grocery store, and what to do when you bring it home,” she said. “They are anxiety-provoking and a little bit fear-mongering.”

However, there are some steps that should be taken to mitigate risk.

First, if hand sanitizer is available at the grocery store, use it. Wiping down carts if you can is good as well. Some stores wipe carts with an approved sanitizer, while others don’t.

Keep a two-metre distance from other shoppers.

“Wait to go down an aisle, if you can,” she says.

Another good practice — especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables — is if you pick it up, it’s yours.

“This is not the time to be squishing and squeezing all of the avocadoes to try and pick the best one,” she says.

Bagging your own groceries is a good idea if you can as well.

Once you get home, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, getting under the nails and in between fingers. Then, disinfect the areas of your kitchen, like countertops, where groceries will be placed with an approved disinfectant. Wash your reusable bags, too.

“With packaged items, you could take a sanitizing wipe if you want, and wipe down the surfaces of packaged items and then put things away,” explains Bulloch. “When it comes to vegetables and fruit, use running water to wash your produce. You might even scrub your produce that has a firmer skin like carrots and melons, with a brush.”

Other than that, she explains, it’s all about basic food safety, like keeping meat and fresh food separate, thawing items appropriately and cooking food to proper internal temperatures.

“Take it day by day,” Bulloch said. “It can be really overwhelming to think in advance. Trying to troubleshoot day by day is OK, too.”