Germ Hotspots

by Amy Brightfield | Comments

I was on the TODAY show yesterday morning talking about this story on germs that’s in the October 17th Woman’s Day, and an interesting point came up. The story goes through the various areas in your home and everyday life—the laundry room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the grocery store—and points out various (and somewhat surprising) germ hot spots. (One study found that bacteria like e.coli clings to the bottoms of 18% of bags!) The story wasn’t meant to make anyone douse themselves in hand sanitizer but some viewers took it that way. Of course, being exposed to some germs helps build our immune systems. My little boy sucked his thumb for quite some time, and I bet his immune system is a bit stronger for it.

But there are many germs—including bacteria like e.coli and salmonella—that are pretty dangerous, and when researching the story experts said that more people than you think actually get food poisoning from their own cooking: Meaning that raw chicken package leaked into your sink or onto your hands and that raw chicken residue made its way onto the spinach and peppers you were cutting for the salad. Or you wipe up a raw egg spill and then use that same sponge to clean off a dish before serving on it. So if you take away anything from the story, I think the part about using separate sponges to clean dishes and counters and leaving your sponge somewhere where it can dry out between uses is probably the most important.