FDA recommends four steps for safely dealing with food: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill.

• The greatest risk of contracting viruses when shopping is from touching a shopping cart, or basket. As noted, coronaviruses can remain on hard surfaces such as steel and plastic (e.g., car door handles, building door handles, shopping cart/basket handles, elevator buttons) for up to 3 days  so these are the highest risk surfaces to touch.

• Use provided wipes in the store (or bring your own) to wipe down all surfaces of the cart or basket that you touch. Discard the wipe immediately. Be mindful to avoid touching your face whenever in a public place. Carry hand sanitizer and use it after leaving the building. You may also wish to sanitize car door handles and house doorknobs if you have touched them without sanitizing your hands.

• Some stores may run out of hand sanitizer, be prepared and bring along a pair of disposable gloves with you. Put them on before touching the shopping cart or basket.

• Another high-risk situation is having close contact with other shoppers or store staff. Maintain a distance of 6 feet as much as possible, such as when you’re waiting in the checkout line. Try to minimize your trips to the store and visit at off-peak hours to avoid crowds.

• Offer to bag your own groceries, to minimize touching by other individuals. Note that while self-checkout lanes may reduce your contact with people, be mindful that you will be interacting with potential secondary infection points such as the barcode scanner, touchscreen, and conveyor belt.

• Handwashing remains a critical step in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and should be done often. After returning home and before preparing or eating food, wash your hands thoroughly with clean water and soap for a minimum of 20 seconds.

• Because of the limited ability of coronavirus to survive on surfaces, the easiest way to minimize risk of infection from foods purchased at a store or delivered to your home is just let it sit in an out-of-the way place for three days. Of course, this won’t work for foods that need immediate refrigeration or freezing. Note that COVID-19 is an “enveloped virus,” meaning that it is covered in an oily membrane. Fortunately, plain soap is very effective at disrupting the oil on surfaces, and water is effective at removing and rinsing away the virus.

• For fresh produce that will not be cooked before eating, wash thoroughly under running water. If desired, use a vegetable scrub brush and scrub the surface vigorously with a small amount of soap and water (be gentle with softer produce). This method is effective at removing pathogens on the surface. Wash the scrub brush with additional soap and water after each use. Other popular rinses such as vinegar are not known to be effective at killing viruses.

• For other perishables that need to be immediately frozen or refrigerated (especially frequently touched items like milk containers) it may also be a reasonable precaution to wash the container surface with a small amount of soap and water. Be sure to wash your hands again after doing so.

Read on www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2020/03/25/food-safety-nutrition-and-wellness-during-covid-19/