The Medical Freedom Channel

“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.team of nine students had volunteers bite a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into a tablespoon of dip. 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.” (01/31/08)