Is It Right To Order Takeaways During Lockdown?
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Friday is ‘takeaway day’ for many households. Who doesn’t love to ring in the weekend with a treat, whether your go-to is a curry, chow mein or pizza?
But how does it all work, now we’re on lockdown? Is it ethical to order a takeaway right now – or are you putting delivery drivers at risk? Can the virus get on the food? We asked hygiene, food, and ethics experts what they thought.
Here’s everything you need to know.
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So, is it safe to order takeaways?
Restaurants should be taking extra precautions to keep staff and customers safe. Ibrahim Dogus, chair of the British Takeaway Campaign, tells HuffPost UK new safety measures include: only taking orders over the phone or online, and leaving deliveries at the door to keep customers and staff two metres apart.
As with anything you do right now – including receiving non-essential deliveries or buying food from shops – you should also, personally, be taking extra precautions if you order a takeaway.
When you pick up your food from the doorstep, there’s a possibility you could come into contact with the virus on the bag or boxes, says Sally Bloomfield, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. If the delivery driver is infected with the virus, which they won’t necessarily know themselves, “that will be very fresh virus on the surface”, she adds.
Bloomfield’s suggestion is to take the bag immediately into the kitchen, open up the packaging and – without touching the food – transfer your meal onto plates. Throw away the packaging immediately and wash your hands thoroughly.
What about recycling the plastic boxes?
You might be tempted to wash out and reuse the boxes your food...
