We all know grocery cart handles are filthy.  But according to a new study by the University of Arizona, they're even filthier than you could've imagined.

In their study, they found that 50% of shopping carts had E. COLI on the handle.  In case you're a little fuzzy on the math there, that's one out of every two carts.

It gets worse:  72% of the shopping carts they tested, quote, "contained a marker for fecal bacteria."

While some strains of E. coli are basically harmless, other ones can make you legitimately sick.  And even if you wash your hands, the E. coli from your cart is still getting awfully close to your food.

Charles Gerba is a professor of soil, water, and environment, and led the study.  He says, quote, "There's more [bacteria] than you find in a supermarket's restroom.

"That's because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms.  Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts."

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