Is It Safe to Double Dip?

Posted 12-07-2009 1:33 am by

C’mon face it – we’ve all double dipped at least once in our lives. From French onion dip and salsa to ranch dressing or guacamole – most of us probably think sticking a chip back into the bowl of dip is not such a big deal, right? 

Wrong. Double dipping is a surefire way to share and ingest germs.  A recent study conducted by a group of microbiologists examined whether or not bacteria were really transferred from mouth to chip to dip (in other words double dipping).  Brave volunteers took a bite of a cracker and then dipped the cracker for three seconds into a tablespoon of a test dip.  They used six different dips: cheese dip, chocolate syrup, salsa, and sterile water with three different acidity levels.  The scientists compared the double dips to what happened when a brand new cracker was dipped, and they measured the amount of bacteria in the volunteers' mouths.  The results were not “appetizing.”  Prepare yourself for what you are about to read! 

Three to six double dips transferred about ten thousand bacteria from the eater's mouth to the dip.  Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip.  Say if you are at a party and three to six people double dip their chips, any chip you dip may pick up at least fifty to one hundred bacteria.     

Could this make you sick?  Possibly.  It depends on how many bacteria you pick up in your bite, how many people are double dipping, and what bacteria they may have in their mouths.  The risk to you might depend on whether the bacteria in the dip are the kind that can make you really sick or a less harmful variety.  To all you “germophobes” out there, the thicker the dip, the more of it sticks to the chip, which can act to seal in the bacteria.  Therefore thicker dips may be safer after double dipping than thinner dips. 

So the next time you are at a party and are considering to try out that yummy looking dip, think about a few things.  Would you kiss the people that are sharing the dip?  If you don't want to swap saliva with these people, then think it over before you indulge yourself into the dip. You just can’t trust that people won’t do it (double dip).

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