Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It is a very long time since I changed diapers in a public restroom, or that I pushed a shopping cart around with an infant daughter plunked into it. But once upon a time I did do both. Frankly, back then I never thought about changing tables or shopping carts harbouring bacteria, but these days, knowing a lot more about science, and having a new baby granddaughter, I pay more attention to such things. I wasn’t surprised to learn about the presence of bacteria on changing tables given that fecal matter is loaded with them, neither was it a surprise that shopping carts are contaminated with microbes. After all, everything is. Every surface we ever come into contact with, be it a kitchen counter or a lover’s lips, teem with bacteria and viruses. However, most of these microbes are not disease-causing or “pathogenic.” But some are, and if we are exposed to these in large enough numbers, we can get sick.
In 2012, a paper published by Charles Gerba, then at the University of Arizona, reported detecting coliform bacteria on 72% of shopping carts, attracting much media attention. While coliforms are not harmful, their presence indicates lack of hygiene and the likely presence of other bacteria. Indeed, a subsequent study of shopping carts at Texas Tech University found E.coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter and Staphylococci, all bacteria capable of causing disease. Generally, their numbers were not high enough to pose a risk to adults but children are a different story. They have less developed immune systems and are more susceptible to infection.
How do shopping carts get contaminated more than other surfaces, in some cases more than public restrooms? All fruits and vegetables are tainted with bacteria picked up from soil and handling, sometimes, as we have recently seen with carrots and cucumbers, at levels that necessitate a recall. If such produce is placed directly in a cart, not in a plastic bag, the bacteria can migrate onto the metal surface. That can also happen if packaged meat leaks fluid laden with bacteria. There is also the possibility of contamination from bird droppings when the carts are left in parking lots, or from infants in diapers riding in the cart leaving a calling card behind.
The message then is, don’t put infants in the shopping cart, both because of what they may leave behind and what they may pick up. It is also a good idea to wipe the handle of the cart before using since bacteria and viruses can survive on such surfaces for hours. You never know where the hands of the person who used the cart just before have been! Anyway, if I get a chance to go supermarketing with my new granddaughter, she will not be joining the blueberries, apples and broccoli in the cart.
It is a very long time since I changed diapers in a public restroom, or that I pushed a shopping cart around with an infant daughter plunked into it. But once upon a time I did do both. Frankly, back then I never thought about changing tables or shopping carts harbouring bacteria, but these days, knowing a lot more about science, and having a new baby granddaughter, I pay more attention to such things. I wasn’t surprised to learn about the presence of bacteria on changing tables given that fecal matter is loaded with them, neither was it a surprise that shopping carts are contaminated with microbes. After all, everything is. Every surface we ever come into contact with, be it a kitchen counter or a lover’s lips, teem with bacteria and viruses. However, most of these microbes are not disease-causing or “pathogenic.” But some are, and if we are exposed to these in large enough numbers, we can get sick.
In 2012, a paper published by Charles Gerba, then at the University of Arizona, reported detecting coliform bacteria on 72% of shopping carts, attracting much media attention. While coliforms are not harmful, their presence indicates lack of hygiene and the likely presence of other bacteria. Indeed, a subsequent study of shopping carts at Texas Tech University found E.coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter and Staphylococci, all bacteria capable of causing disease. Generally, their numbers were not high enough to pose a risk to adults but children are a different story. They have less developed immune systems and are more susceptible to infection.
How do shopping carts get contaminated more than other surfaces, in some cases more than public restrooms? All fruits and vegetables are tainted with bacteria picked up from soil and handling, sometimes, as we have recently seen with carrots and cucumbers, at levels that necessitate a recall. If such produce is placed directly in a cart, not in a plastic bag, the bacteria can migrate onto the metal surface. That can also happen if packaged meat leaks fluid laden with bacteria. There is also the possibility of contamination from bird droppings when the carts are left in parking lots, or from infants in diapers riding in the cart leaving a calling card behind.
The message then is, don’t put infants in the shopping cart, both because of what they may leave behind and what they may pick up. It is also a good idea to wipe the handle of the cart before using since bacteria and viruses can survive on such surfaces for hours. You never know where the hands of the person who used the cart just before have been! Anyway, if I get a chance to go supermarketing with my new granddaughter, she will not be joining the blueberries, apples and broccoli in the cart.
