Tea bags in the office have 17 times more germs than loo seat!

[Russell]

So says a story in the Metro.

So what?  Surely the first thing you do to a teabag is to pour boiling water on it which will kill all germs.  Or am I wrong?  Are there dry teabag suckers out there?


https://www.metro.news/office-teabags-have-17-times-more-germs-than-a-loo-seat/853525/

[ian]

Press release journalism, innit. Cleaning company (Initial Washroom Hygiene) says you need more 'washroom' cleaning, otherwise bacteria.

Bacteria and viruses cover every surface we touch and yes, we transfer them. The majority do us no harm. Generally this time of the year it's best to avoid sticking your fingers in your mouth.

(That said, I don't get the bog-room soap dodgers, it's take a few moments to at least rinse your hands, and please a bit of soap after a number 2.)

[Andrij]

Yet another reason not to drink tea.

I also don't like Marmite.   For those now sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches, please form an orderly queueueueue.

[ElyDave]

Yet another reason not to drink tea.

I also don't like Marmite.   For those now sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches, please form an orderly queueueueue.

Drink beer instead, at least that's been boiled with hops. 

Surely though, dry teabags in a dry box = bacterial risk, low - at least cf milk doing the hokey-cokey in the fridge and probably left a week past the use-buy and sat next to Ian's sandwiches he left there last time some thoughts needed leading in a tidy-haired manner

[Canardly]

Slow news week obv. 

[hellymedic]

CnBA to read article.
Bugs are everywhere.
Teabags get liberal application of boiling water, at least for English Tea, which will kill most known germs DEDD.
Milk usually goes sour before it's dangerously buggy for people over a year old. (Sterile anything isn't really needed once kids crawl on the floor and suck their fingers.)

Bugs breed best in warm wet conditions and usually need to pass a numerical threshold before they cause harm when ingested as stomach acid is fairly lethal.

A kiss from the office letch will expose you to rather more risk than a cup of office tea.

[ian]

All free newspapers mostly do is publish this kind of crap – toilet cleaning company 'finds' that toilets need more cleaning. That and clickbait (virtual or otherwise) like the MailOnline's constant rediscovery of women's' breasts or the Metro finding things that others have lost in a bodily orifice.

[Biggsy]

It says more about loo seats than tea bags.  They have smooth surfaces that bacteria can't imbed in and people tend to wipe them clean even when the rest of the bog is like something out of Trainspotting.

[hellymedic]

Good point, Biggsy!

Loo seats are also mostly cool and dry (thankfully)!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Surely it depends on what sort of bacteria as well as numbers.

[hellymedic]

AIUI the bugs in the mouth are rather similar to those at the other end but the raw numbers are higher in poo.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yebbut the bugs on a tea bag?

[T42]

Depends what you do with used teabags.

[ian]

Well, I suppose there is teabagging, one of those shocking 'bedroom pastimes' I'm informed, your honour.

Those teabags you shouldn't pour boiling water over.

[Paul]

Some one brings copies of the Metro into work. They are left on communal space surfaces and read by many.

Wonder how many germs they accumulate...

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Teabugs.

Is there any reason why tea in bags doesn't have bugs before it gets into the nice clean looking bags?  I used to deal with tea imports. After a ship had been discharged the ship's hold and dock side had lots of tea dust blowing around.  The word was that after it was swept up it wouldn't be wasted; it'd be put into tea bags.

And my theory is that if you unexposed to bugs you won't build up a resistance and so when you do exposed the bugs have a field day.  Of course it may be a fine line between resistance and death.

[runsoncake]

CnBA to read article

It's ok Helly I took the hit and read it for you - less informative than "House at Pooh Corner" and aimed at a lower age range.

[David Martin]

You need bugs of the right sort. We all do and develop them from birth. The right sort of bugs will aid your body defences.

A really good (though sometimes heavy) book is Ed Yong's "I contain multitudes" which for a biologist is an absolutely fascinating survey of the different roles that our relationships with microbes take. ANd for everyone who is not a biologist it is still Quite Interesting.

[hatler]

Are there dry teabag suckers out there?

I earned a fiver at uni by eating a (dry) catering sized tea bag. (And I'm still here [obv].)

[meddyg]

I earned a fiver at uni by eating a (dry) catering sized tea bag.

We had lots of practical classes in physiology/pathology /biochemistry - but what was he studying ?

[Ian H]

I also don't like Marmite. 

It should be okay if you boil it first.

[hatler]

I earned a fiver at uni by eating a (dry) catering sized tea bag.

We had lots of practical classes in physiology/pathology /biochemistry - but what was he studying ?

Mech Eng.

[Moleman76]

I would have expected such an infomercial from a teabag-cleaning concern

[clarion]

I imagine there may be more bacteria on a newspaper distributed free on public transport.

[lahoski]

Mech Eng.

The universal excuse.