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Experts weigh in on best handling of groceries during COVID-19 pandemic – Victoria News

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A routine trip to the grocery store can be complicated by a boatload of questions in the age of COVID-19.

The pandemic has left many shoppers wondering whether they need to sanitize their cardboard cereal boxes or plastic yogurt containers before unloading their grocery bags.

But several experts say washing your hands is more important than wiping down every item you put in the fridge.

Research published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests the virus can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic.

Experts say the risk of consumers catching the novel coronavirus from picking up items in the grocery aisle appears to be quite low, but it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions.

They said it’s possible that someone with COVID-19 could cough, sneeze or touch an item with contaminated hands before it’s brought home by another shopper. But the chances of that scenario are pretty slim.

“I think the risk of actually having the coronavirus on your stuff is actually pretty low,” said Jeff Kwong, the associate director of the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at the University of Toronto.

“I think wiping it all down is just an extra precaution and then just washing your hands afterwards is probably sufficient.”

University of Guelph food science professor Keith Warriner agreed that the risk of the novel coronavirus lingering on your packaged groceries is low.

Since research on the virus is still emerging, Warriner said it may be wise to take some simple precautions.

“Washing your hands before you touch anything,” he said. “Wash anything before you eat it.”

READ MORE: B.C. bans ‘shameful black market’ of food, medical supplies; limits buying quantities

But how far should one go in sanitizing their foodstuffs? Should granola bar boxes be given a quick wipe? What about that plastic container of parmesan cheese?

Jennifer Ronholm, an assistant professor in the faculty of agricultural and environmental sciences at McGill University, felt grocery worries were of “minimal concern” from a public health perspective.

But if extra cleaning or disinfecting helps provide peace of mind — then go for it, she said.

“If you were very worried about it, it’s not going to hurt you to wipe your food down when you get home,” said Ronholm.

“But again, the chances are very minimal.”

Lawrence Goodridge, a food safety professor at the University of Guelph, said he doesn’t think the cleaning of plastic or cardboard items from the grocery store is really necessary.

“Research studies tend not to mimic what happens in everyday life,” he said. “I think the consumers and the general public are worried because there’s this image out there that those cereal boxes are literally just covered all over the surface with the virus. Well that’s not the case.”

When bringing groceries inside, other suggested precautions include disinfecting the countertop before and after unloading. One no-no, Goodridge said, was wearing gloves during the process.

“Gloves tend to give people a false sense of security,” he said. “Because they think that they’re wearing gloves that anything the virus can’t get on to their hands. But gloves themselves can become dirty and spread things.”

Once a product is brought home, consumers have control from there, he said. And if ever in doubt, grab the soap and turn on the tap.

“You wash your hands when you come in, you wash your hands after you’ve handled it, you wash your hands before you eat, prepare food, or do anything to your face that you want to do and I think you should be safe then.”

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press

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Japan’s SoftBank returns to profit after gains at Vision Fund and other investments

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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.

Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).

SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.

The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.

WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.

SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.

SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.

SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.

The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X:

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Trump campaign promises unlikely to harm entrepreneurship: Shopify CFO

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Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.

“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.

“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”

Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.

On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.

If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.

These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.

If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.

However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.

He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.

“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.

Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.

The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.

Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.

Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.

Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.

Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.

Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”

In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.

“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)

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RioCan cuts nearly 10 per cent staff in efficiency push as condo market slows

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TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.

The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.

The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.

RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.

The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.

RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)

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