Shopping bags could be a threat to shoppers’ health as they harbour deadly food poisoning micro-organisms, researchers have said.
Tests conducted on shopping bags of a total of 84 shoppers have revealed that almost half of them contained traces of E.coli, a lethal micro-organism that killed 26 people in Scotland in 1996 in one of the world’s worst food poisoning outbreaks. Scientists from the University of Arizona in the US also found many bags were contaminated with salmonella, the Telegraph reported.
Many of the shopping bags were made from jute or woven polypropylene. While they helped to reduce the amount of plastic used in carrier bags by 40 per cent in just the last three years, the research says they could be harmful if not cleaned regularly.
The study revealed 97 per cent of shoppers who used eco-friendly bags never washed or bleached them.
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Lord Mayor has trouser malfunction at kids’ event
London, July 1: It’s not exactly a case of “wardrobe malfunction”, but the Lord Mayor of Leicester was caught in an embarrassing incident when his trousers came loose and fell down at an education event for schoolchildren.
Colin Hall, who was elected the Lord Mayor of the east Midlands town in May, was in a library to take part in a Global Education Summer Showcase on Wednesday. Pupils from three local schools were present, and when he stood to give a vote of thanks, his trousers came loose and fell. In a statement, Mr Hall said: “Whilst giving a vote of thanks, I suffered a problem with my pants. Unfortunately, I had chosen not to wear a belt and the trousers fell”. —PTI