Single-Use Versus Reusables: The Good, The Bad and The Yucky

Foodservice packaging like paper and plastic cups, plates and bowls were invented over 100 years ago to provide a more sanitary alternative to their reusable counterparts and help protect public health. Over the years, the Foodservice Packaging Institute has commissioned independent studies with third-party laboratories to confirm the sanitary advantage of single-use foodservice packaging over reusables.

Before you choose that ceramic mug over a paper or plastic cup, you may want to know what the latest study shows. In 2012, health inspectors visited 30 different foodservice establishments in Sacramento County, Calif. and swabbed nearly 300 single-use cups, plates, bowls and cutlery and their reusable counterparts. These swabs were sent to a laboratory for testing, and here’s what they found:

• • Evidence of Enterococcus and Staphylococcus – bacteria that can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills – was below the detection limit on both the single-use and reusable items. Certainly good news for the foodservice industry.
  • Not such good news when it comes to coliform bacteria, which is usually traced back to fecal matter (ewww!) and can cause bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, cramps, nausea, vomiting and occasionally fever. If that’s not bad enough, it can be fatal in the young, elderly and immune-compromised. The results of the swabs taken in Sacramento County showed evidence of coliforms on four percent of reusable items and on none of the single-use items. Hmm, wonder what would have happened to those lucky customers if they had been served the reusable plate, bowl and spoon that the laboratory determined had over six times the coliforms?!?!

Another test was the mere presence of bacteria, which could indicate a food safety or public health hazard. Single-use items were again shown to be more sanitary, with statistically significant lower bacteria counts compared to the reusable items. Consider these test results:

• • Over one-third (gulp!) of the reusable plates and bowls tested had higher than acceptable microbial levels, compared to nine percent of single-use cups.
  • One quarter of the reusable forks, knives and spoons tested had higher than acceptable microbial levels, compared to just over ten percent of single-use cups.
  • Seventeen percent of reusable cups tested had higher than acceptable microbial levels, compared to only seven percent of single-use cups.

Time after time, sanitation studies prove that single-use Foodservice Packaging is The Sensible Solution.