The Bagged Ice Urban Legend You Really Need To Stop Believing

Bagged ice is the ultimate way to keep your food cold and drinks fresh on a hot day, especially if you're at the beach, the ballpark, or anywhere else enjoying the sun. Filling a cooler with bagged ice from the grocery store or gas station is part of nearly everybody's summer outings list. While you can easily combine ice from your freezer with the two kinds of rum you need for the perfect mai tai, it takes a whole lot more than a tray to fill a whole cooler. Bagged ice can do the job. It's more convenient and reasonably priced. You can even get different sizes of ice depending on the size of your crowd, too, so running to the nearest grocer for a bag is the natural solution for summertime parties.

Despite its convenience, bagged ice has a bad reputation for being easily contaminated and a not-so-safe option for human consumption. Sometimes you wonder, for instance, is it safe to chomp on ice from restaurant drinks? The answer is the same for both bagged and restaurant ice — it should be safe if it's made in sanitary conditions. The bad rep might have some merit, however, if you're sourcing your ice from dodgy places. All in all, you don't need to avoid buying bagged ice at the grocery store to avoid contaminated ice — you just need to check the branding and make sure it comes from a reputable company.

There are purification standards for packaged ice. It's a regulated industry just like frozen chicken (Real Good chicken nuggets will always have a place in our freezer) or any other food sold in America. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has high standards for water sourcing and facility cleanliness, storage and transport, and the display and sale of bagged ice. Just like any other food, bagged ice can be contaminated with bacteria during any of those processes. If that happens, a recall is issued, just like when Costco recalled Kirkland salmon over listeria contamination in 2024. This is standard procedure for when the sanitary food production pipeline breaks down and a product becomes polluted.

Bagged ice does face a unique challenge when it comes to water quality — one that can be daunting depending on where companies source their liquid. A 2017 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment found high percentages of contaminants in U.S. water bodies including algal blooms, bacteria, and heavy toxic metals. Because contaminants could exist in water sources, many packaged ice companies use filtration systems or specific clean water sources. Many of these companies carry the International Packaged Ice Association label, which upholds safe industry practices.

The best way to ensure you're getting safe bagged ice is to buy a labeled product from a trusted grocery store or other retailer. Look for establishments that have a clean and neatly stocked ice chest ready for their customers. There's quite a bit of ice produced in-house at convenience stores, liquor stores, and at fast-food restaurants. Choosing a labeled bag of ice increases your chances that the ice meets FDA quality standards because the company has to appease the federal agency to stay in business.

If you really want to dive into a search for clean, bagged ice you can also search the database of more than 400 members of the International Packaged Ice Association and choose a retailer from the list. Among them are some of the world's biggest packaged ice retailers you've most likely seen at your local grocer, brands like Reddy Ice and Easton Ice. So the next time you're ready to stock up the cooler for a day outside, just be sure to grab a labeled bag of ice from the grocer and you'll be ready for a great time.