Resources for help getting food during quarantine and safe handling of food

People with disabilities in Toronto are struggling to get groceries during pandemic
People with disabilities, who rely on grocery delivery services, are struggling to get food now that those services are overwhelmed by demand.

"I don't think either shoppers or the companies have thought about this unintended consequence of the increased demand," said Larissa Fan, an artist who has a chronic neurological illness called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

"Prior to the COVID-19 situation I had been using grocery delivery regularly with no problems, I could order in the morning and have groceries delivered later that day," she told blogTO.
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https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2020/03/people-with-disabilities-groceries-toronto/
 
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Arnie Pye said:
This may be in the wrong thread.

If you are cleaning kitchen work surfaces or sinks or any other surface that needs to be kept as clean as possible which of the following would you trust the most - disinfectant or bleach?

Code: 
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255279694

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255279694

or this :

Code: 
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/250084367

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/250084367
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I am pretty sure you want bleach @Arnie Pye, although both may be good.

The disinfectant is benzalkonium, which is a surfactant specifically designed to kill bacteria. It probably disrupts virus but I am not sure. Bleach causes a direct chemical damage to all proteins including in viruses.
 
Arnie Pye said:
This may be in the wrong thread.

If you are cleaning kitchen work surfaces or sinks or any other surface that needs to be kept as clean as possible which of the following would you trust the most - disinfectant or bleach?
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Like @Jonathan Edwards says I would go for bleach. Just plain ordinary thin bleach on a food prep surface. I would worry the products you linked to might taint any food prepped on surfaces they were used on. Especially with the strong odour.
 
Invisible Woman said:
Like @Jonathan Edwards says I would go for bleach. Just plain ordinary thin bleach on a food prep surface. I would worry the products you linked to might taint any food prepped on surfaces they were used on. Especially with the strong odour.
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Yes, I would have to dilute it in circumstances where it could affect the taste of food. I've used diluted bleach a couple of times to clean food packaging before putting it into the fridge, and so far I've avoided any hint of bleach in the flavour of the food.
 
Just managed to order some hand sanitiser but it has only 57% ethanol (it was the only sanitiser available). I'm using soap and water to wash my hands but want something for commonly touched surfaces such as light switches etc. I haven't had the energy to tackle these with detergents and don't anyway want water near the electrics.

Is this sanitiser likely to be completely useless?
 
I’ve just opened a dairylea lunchables for lunch. But I don’t know whether to eat it or not. How safe it is because its packaged food that’s been in the fridge and then comes straight out to eat? It’s not heated up. I read coronavirus can live for 28 days in the fridge. But in the all the articles they only talk about surfaces not the actual food. How are lunchables and other foods like that made? Are human hands or humans even involved in the process or is it just done by machine?

(Yes I’m eating lunch at 4.30pm)

Edit: I’ve also been eating two Dairylea triangles every day..
I haven’t been consistent with my only eating heated up food rule :( feel confused.
 
lunarainbows said:
Now I’m also confused about yoghurt. Is that safe? The problem is a large part of my diet consists of, (low fat) yoghurt and Dairylea triangles..
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lunarainbows said:
I read coronavirus can live for 28 days in the fridge.
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eek yes good point! :jawdrop::wtf: i'm happily tucking into fresh milk & yogurt & also butter, perhaps that's very silly? I've just been waiting a few days after it arrives to eat it. bit alarmed by the 28days in the fridge thing, I eat loads of yogurt normally, & cereal, they're so easy & nutritious. What's your opinion @Jonathan Edwards are you eating yogurt?
 
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Yes @JemPD I saw it on this link NBC: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/can-coronavirus-survive-in-your-refrigerator/2265870/
Apparently fridges are a place where coronavirus “thrives”. I got alarmed too.

In the end I didn’t eat the yogurt, dairylea triangles or the Dairylea lunchables. :( I haven’t had them in my fridge for 28 days yet. also now worried about ice cream as coronavirus survives up to 2 years in the freezer! I eat butter and spreads too like you.

My boyfriend called me and found it really weird that I wasn’t eating dairylea triangles and yoghurt. i tried to find out online if human hands would have made these sorts of foods or whether they would have been made entirely by machine and so no way of getting contaminated, but can’t find that info. I don’t know if i am just being weird but if it says it lives for 28 days, They only talk about surfaces but what about food?

Edit, the problem with this is, I am now missing out on foods that usually make up some of my diet. They’re nutritious and easy like you say. And not sure what/how to replace them right now, there aren’t really cupboard replacements of yoghurt and soft cheese and cheese slices. When you’re not a meat eater.
 
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I don't know, but all these things are packed in sterile conditions. If they weren't, people would get gastric symptoms.

Samples are taken from all foods and tested for contamination. Even if the tests are for bacteria, people are covered in them. If conditions were unsanitary things like Staphlococcus would show up.
 
Dairy products are packed, dealt with, treated under very hygienic standards and it is an industrial process. As @Mithriel said.

I should imagine if a dairy product has become contaminated with the virus, it will be post manufacturer handling. So the virus would be on the outside of the container. You could take it from the fridge, clean the packaging, wash your mitts and then eat it.

If you had a clean fridge to start with, or have cleaned it and been carefully wiping down all containers that go in it, why would it be contaminated, though?

Just my thoughts, no guarantees.
 
@Mithriel that is a good point.


Invisible Woman said:
Dairy products are packed, dealt with, treated under very hygienic standards and it is an industrial process. As @Mithriel said.

I should imagine if a dairy product has become contaminated with the virus, it will be post manufacturer handling. So the virus would be on the outside of the container. You could take it from the fridge, clean the packaging, wash your mitts and then eat it.

If you had a clean fridge to start with, or have cleaned it and been carefully wiping down all containers that go in it, why would it be contaminated, though?

Just my thoughts, no guarantees.
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We do a very thorough decontamination of all groceries when they come in.. dettol wipe then alcohol wipe of all outside packaging, so there shouldn’t be contamination of the outside. It’s only the inside I’m worried about as I wasn’t sure how it’s made. But yours and Mithriels answer has reassured me. Do you think it would be the same for dairy based desserts or lunchables (like cheese slices with biscuits inside?) they would need to be very sterile too, not only the pure yoghurt and butter, I think? It’s possibly similar for most of these things as it’ll be an industrial process I hope..
 
Invisible Woman said:
Dairy products are packed, dealt with, treated under very hygienic standards and it is an industrial process. As @Mithriel said.

I should imagine if a dairy product has become contaminated with the virus, it will be post manufacturer handling. So the virus would be on the outside of the container. You could take it from the fridge, clean the packaging, wash your mitts and then eat it.

If you had a clean fridge to start with, or have cleaned it and been carefully wiping down all containers that go in it, why would it be contaminated, though?

Just my thoughts, no guarantees.
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Oh the outside is definitely sanitised, it gets cleaned before it goes in there.... i'm talking about whether it's in the milk/yog/whatever, itself. I've been to some vegetable pickers/suppliers in 'a former life' when I was selling stuff to businesses in the east of England, & what I saw when i was waiting around made me feel sick, so I just feel wary, but that was fruit & veg not processed food so I'll be encouraged buy the comments about sterile environments. :)
 
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There are no absolute guarantees @lunarainbows & @JemPD - contaminants can happen but environments where dairy products are produced hygiene is very strict.

If a batch of dairy products is spoiled for some reason, or if the original milk product has bacteria levels that are too high then the products have to be properly disposed of. They can't just chuck it away or wash it down a drain. Disposal is expensive.

Then not only does the manufacturer lose the value of the raw ingredients and any packaging, plus wasted production time, but they also have to pay the additional disposal charge.

At least that's the way it used to be and I can only imagine things are if anything stricter.

Even without discussing whatever fines might be imposed the cost of getting it wrong is very high.
 
Just another reminder that bleach and stainless are not a good mix. Chlorine based compounds corrode stainless, leaving lots of micro-pits in the surface that microbes like to hide in. Use something else for stainless.

Sasha said:
Just managed to order some hand sanitiser but it has only 57% ethanol (it was the only sanitiser available). I'm using soap and water to wash my hands but want something for commonly touched surfaces such as light switches etc. I haven't had the energy to tackle these with detergents and don't anyway want water near the electrics.

Is this sanitiser likely to be completely useless?
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My understanding is that with alcohols the contact time is an important factor in effectiveness of sanitising. (It clearly is for soap and heat, and probably for most sanitising agents too.)

Given the minimum recommended strength for alcohol sanitiser is 60% against this virus, then that is probably allowing a margin of error for different evaporation rates, etc. Applying it twice should make sure.

Is that % figure for v/v or w/w? Should say straight after the %.

If you live alone, then if you decontaminate yourself as soon as you get home, before you go touching other things, you should only need to limit efforts to front door handles and keys, the hallway light switch, etc.
 
You wont BELIEVE what the Ocado delivery driver just did.... I suppose he thought was being helpful...
After telling him on phone that I am vulnerable so will leave door closed & where to leave the various items.... Leaving most of it in back garden because I disabled cant get it all in at once
He wanted to tell me he had helpfully covered up the stuff in the back garden so it wouldn't get wet if it rained.... that was thoughtful of him, but then so guess what he did?....

He opened the letterbox & shouted through it to tell me!!!!
$*****%! IDIOT!!!!....:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop: :mad: yelling a lovely cloud of his exhale vapour into my house. Thanks very much, what was the point of you not handing me the bags or me opening the door & him just putting them over the threshold? Do people think that distancing is about touch?

I sprayed loads of very fine mist water spray all through the hall which just falls immediately to the floor, with the hope that whatever was in the air is now on the floor… which I can at least wipe. good grief what a silly thing for him to have done!
 
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