On Sunday, millions of Americans will be plopped in front of big-screen TVs watching the Super Bowl — and, yes — stuffing their faces with chips, dip and anything else they can get their hands on.
So, this brings up the question: Is double dipping really that bad?
A new study by Clemson University set out to answer that exact question.
According to The New York Times, the study was inspired by an episode of "Seinfeld" in which the character George Costanza is confronted at a funeral reception after dipping the same chip twice.
Clemson University food microbiologist Paul Dawson said he proposed the study to get undergraduate students involved in scientific research. A team of nine students had volunteers bite a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into a tablespoon of dip, it was reported.
They repeated the process with new crackers, for a total of either three or six double dips per dip sample. The team then analyzed the remaining dip and counted the number of aerobic bacteria in it. The students found that on average, three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip, the Times reported.
"The way I would put it is, before you have some dip at a party, look around and ask yourself, 'would I be willing to kiss everyone here?' Because you don’t know who might be double-dipping, and those who do are sharing their saliva with you," Dawson told the Times.
The study is set to be published later this year in the Journal of Food Safety.
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