The guidelines come after a “lack of consistent hygiene standards” was noted.
A collaboration on guidelines for safe and hygienic shopping in Irish supermarkets has been published.
The aim of the guidelines is to help stop the spread of Covid-19 among shoppers.
The Irish Global Health Network, in partnership with the Environmental Health Association of Ireland and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the UK, have issued the safe shopping guidelines to the general public of Ireland and the UK.
They include advice on how to protect yourself before, during and after your trip to the supermarket.
It states things such as:
- Using the non-dominant hand to pick up goods, which subsequently reduces the cross contamination risk from touching of the mouth, nose or eyes
- Making contactless payments and avoiding contact with surfaces of any kind.
- Sanitisation of shopping trolleys, baskets, pin pads and other regularly touched items after each use due to the capacity of the virus to live on surfaces
The Irish Global Health Network described the inconsistency in upholding standards as “worrying” and called for more hygienic practices to ensure the safety of both staff and the public.
Supermarkets have been urged to enhance existing procedures such as social distancing to enable shoppers protect themselves and the frontline staff who are most at risk.
The safe shopping guidelines are available to read in full here.
