Waving your child off to school with their lunchbox in tow and knowing that they will enjoy a healthy lunch puts your mind at ease. But what if it wasn't the dinner that you had to worry about.
Parenting on Female First
Although many of you disinfect your child's lunchbox, parents are still ignoring giving it a good old scrub.
Build up of crumbs can become a 'breeding ground' for bacteria such as E.coli, salmonella and staphylococcus aureus, according to Dettol Back to School Study.
If you think that a quick wipe with the dishcloth will do the trick- think again! Research has found that nine out of ten dishcloths in the UK are 'heavily contaminated' with bacteria.
Lunchboxes often remain in warm conditions in schoolbags for hours, without being refrigerated, meaning that they are in the room temperature 'danger zone' where bacteria multiplies most rapidly, increasing the risk of food poisoning. In these conditions, one bacterium such as salmonella could become several million in just eight hours.
In order to help reduce the risk of foodborne tummy bugs, Dettol has compiled three easy top tips for parents to follow:
- Pack frozen water bottles into the lunchbox as freezer packs. This will cool down the food inside, helping to prevent it from hitting the danger zone, and the water should be ready to drink by lunch time.
- After lunch, children should be encouraged to discard all leftover perishable food and packaging, emptying crumbs straight into the bin. Avoid reusing packaging such as sandwich bags and tinfoil because they could contaminate other food.
- Wipe down the lunchbox with an antibacterial wipe, such as Dettol Anti-bacterial Cleansing Surface Wipes, before packing in order to kill 99.9% of bacteria.