That's utterly ridiculous and highly inconvenient for nearly everyone that isn't proselytizing about reusable sacks or needs to purchase more than a few items. What works for dedicated urbanists doesn't fly for the other 85% of the population.

Reusable bags are nearly universally unsanitary. People let their cats play in them, never wash them, then place them on the same conveyor belt where you put your vegetables.

I don't think it's utterly ridiculous for most people. It's very common here in the Netherlands and I'm not sure the average Dutch person is so extremely peculiar to the rest of society. It's really no more inconvenient than carrying the bank card I need to pay for my purchase and in the worst case scenario if I forget it I can just buy a new bag to reuse with my other items.

Regarding how clean they are, I just wash mine in the washing machine and I wash my vegetables as well.

> Because that's utterly ridiculous and highly inconvenient for nearly everyone that isn't proselytizing about reusable sacks

No

Here in Aotearoa they are completely normal

> Reusable bags are nearly universally unsanitary...place them on the same conveyor belt where you put your vegetables.

Golly. Given the habits of growers you really should wash your vegetables before you use them. Pesticides

Not just growers, I don't think grocery store employees are washing their hands religiously when they're putting this stuff out.

I worked in a supermarket. They aren't washing their hands at all and they might well be playing football with your bread rolls.

These days I often see the grocers using gloves when stocking shelves.

Single use plastic gloves?

> Single use plastic gloves?

Probably.

Clean hands are better, IMO, than those gloves

Indeed. I used to work in a supermarket and we used those gloves. It just meant that the hands got really sweaty and nasty before the gloves inevitably ripped and put your manky hands in contact with the product anyway. By the end of my tenure I just washed my hands before each task.

Pesticides are water soluble. Cat feces is not.

When you wash something you're not dissolving contaminants - you're mechanically removing them. Most bacteria are not water soluble yet we manage to wash them off our hands.

> Most bacteria are not water soluble yet we manage to wash them off our hands.

We use soap.

Well, I do

someone else's chicken blood is probably worse to get on your veg than pesticides. The bacteria can infiltrate the veg.