Reusable Shopping Bag - Product Safety

Product Safety

According to Bloomberg News, in September 2010, "Wegmans Food Markets Inc., owner of a chain of East Coast supermarkets, announced it would replace reusable shopping bags after a consumer group found the sacks had high levels of lead." Bloomberg News also stated that the high levels were related to two specific designs, totaling more than 725,000 bags.

After a report in the Tampa Tribune in November 2010 that elevated levels of lead were found in similar reusable bags, the Food and Drug Administration opened an investigation responding to calls by U.S. environmental and consumer groups, as well as U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, to investigate the reusable bags commonly distributed by grocery stores and large retail chains. Winn-Dixie recalled their bags after they were directly cited in the investigation.

In December 2010, popular Canadian-based athletic retailer Lululemon Athletica recalled complimentary reusable bags distributed since November 2009 because "environmental concerns were raised over the proper disposal of reusable bags due to lead content." Sears' Canadian stores announced a recall on reusable bags because of similar findings on January 6, 2011. On January 12, 2011, The Center for Environmental Health announced Disney-themed bags from U.S. grocery chain Safeway have been found to contain levels of lead 15 to 17 times the current federal limit of 300ppm. Safeway recalled bags that had been identified as containing high levels of lead in late January 2011.

In January 2011, USA Today ran an article based on a report from the Center for Consumer Freedom, a front group for the "hospitality industries", that bags sold in the U.S. by Walgreens, Safeway, Giant, Giant Eagle, Bloom and other grocery chains and retailers contained levels of lead in excess of 100 parts per million, the maximum amount allowed under law in many U.S. states. They have not produced their testing methods and data, and many organizations feel this was an attempt to discredit the use of reusable bags. Bloom stopped distributing the bags due to toxicity levels prior to the study, but did not recall the bags.

Other concerns have been raised about the safety of reusable bags due to infrequent washing and the presence of bacteria.

In May 2012, Oregon Public Health published a study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, traced an outbreak of the dangerous norovirus to a reusable grocery bag that members of a Beaverton girls' soccer team passed around when they shared cookies.