The continuing controversy about can and bottle redemption in supermarkets flared up again when Iowa grocers released a study linking dangerous contaminants to grocery stores’ redemption centers.

FreshCheck, a laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., conducted environmental sampling in 11 Iowa supermarkets throughout the state, said Jerry Fleagle, president of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association.

Although he could not say which stores were tested, Fleagle said they varied from independent to chain stores.

According to the FreshCheck lab report, generic E. coli was found in several of the stores, primarily on surfaces that came in contact with the recycled items in the store. The E. coli was not found at high levels, according to the study.

Another bacteria, listeria monocytogenes, also was found in a shed at one of the grocery store redemption facilities. Listeria monocytogenes is a human pathogen and is a danger to pregnant women, according to the Center for Disease Control Web site, www.cdc.gov.

Fleagle said he is concerned about the possibility of cross-contamination between redemption centers and stores.

Dewayne Johnson, executive director of the Iowa Recycling Association, questioned the validity of the study.

“They tested pop cans, machines, counters and grocery carts, but there’s nothing to compare it to,” he said. “Did they swab the bathrooms, the dairy department, or the meat department?”

The association wants people to believe the bacteria found is more common, Johnson said.

“More of these types of germs are in the typical person’s kitchen,” he said.

The Iowa Legislature implemented the bottle bill in 1978. It is administered by the Department of Natural Resources.

Under the bottle bill, cans and bottles for beer, soft drinks, soda water, mineral water, wine, liquor and wine coolers carry a five-cent deposit for the consumer and a one-cent handling fee for the distributor. When the consumer returns cans and bottles to the recycling center, he or she gets back the five-cent deposit. Fleagle estimated the bottle bill costs $35 million to $40 million a year.

“According to statistics from BioCycle, an industry journal, 66 percent of [the] population has curbside recycling so we are now operating under a dual system,” he said.

But a comprehensive recycling program is already in place under current state law.

“Every part of the state is required to have access to recycling, which allows the cities and counties to craft the system that works best for them,” he said. “Coupled with that, we have the bottle bill, and a system to collect tires and household hazardous wastes.”

Russ Weis, manager of store operations at Hy-Vee, 3800 W. Lincoln Way, said he receives some complaints about the cleanliness of Hy-Vee’s redemption center.

“We power-wash it every night,” he said. “But we can’t help what’s growing on those cans that people drop off.”

The bottle and can redemption law in Iowa does not promote recycling, Weis said.

“The deposit law in Iowa was created to clean up ditches, not to recycle,” he said.

The Iowa Grocery Industry Association conducted a petition drive at Iowa grocery stores in December, asking customers to sign if they wanted to see the state develop a better system for recycling beverage containers.

More than 191,000 signatures were gathered at grocery stores across Iowa, and Iowa Grocery Industry Association officials delivered the petitions to Gov. Tom Vilsack and legislators, Fleagle said.

The petition was distributed in about 1,000 grocery stores across the state, Johnson said, totaling less than 200 names per store.

“The public silence toward these petitions is overwhelming,” he said.