We, the citizens of the Virgin Islands, petition the Virgin Islands Government to lift the requirement demanding restaurants to use single- use disposable plates, cups, and silverware beginning June 15, 2020.

As restaurants begin to open back up for on-site dining, we hope you will consider the following

Disposable food ware and products provide no better protection against virus transmission. COVID-19 can be found on both disposable and reusable materials. Plastic is one of the materials on which COVID-19 it survives longest. A recent study from the National Institutes of Health showed that the virus lasts up to 24 hours on paper and cardboard and between 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel.  In theory, any object brought into a public space either by customers or workers could have the virus on it. Customer’s purses, wallets, credit cards and clothing also touch surfaces. This points to the inconsistencies, and also lack of rationale and science, which are driving restrictions.

Single-use food service items could present a greater risk to customers and food servers. Single-use products like plastic cups, plastic-wrapped utensils, or plastic bags are handled by several retail workers before reaching the customer.

Agencies charged with ensuring worker and consumer health suggest that reusable foodware is safe. To protect workers and customers in restaurants and bars, no mention is made of any threats posed by reusable bags, cups, or cutlery or other reusable products. The National Restaurant Association’s Guide to Reopening re: COVID-19 adheres to FDA guidance, focusing on cleaning, disinfecting, and social distancing. They don’t promote single-use products. The only mention of reusable products is a suggestion to clean reusable menus. Whereas, reusable products provided by a retailer, like plates, cups, utensils, and to-go containers, must be adequately cleaned and sanitized according to our territory food safety regulations current recommendations from CDC defers to the FDA.

The FDA Guidance on Best Practices for Retail Food Stores, Restaurants, and Food Delivery Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic focuses on social distancing, foodware washing and sanitizing, cleaning and sanitizing, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers.The CDC and FDA are not aware of any reports at this time that suggest COVID-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging.

Restaurants and retail food service are among the most highly regulated businesses in terms of public health. Existing food safety codes are based on FDA Guidance.  Territory food safety codes require extensive ware washing and sanitizing at high heat that meets the level of hygiene and disinfection required by the FDA and CDC.

Thus, reusable plates, bowls, cups, utensils, etc. that are properly cleaned and sanitized are no less safe than disposable items with regards to COVID-19, and may in fact be safer. Additionally, businesses, who have already been hit hard financially by the crisis, have been proven to save money when choosing reusables over disposables. We advise that based on the science we refer to in this letter, and not on unfounded industry claims that single-use plastics are the best material choice for preventing COVID-19 transmission that you reverse the regulation requiring food service facilities to provide only single-use service ware.