Unless your children attend a really cool school with organic, farm to school lunches, you probably pack your child’s lunch each day. That’s a good thing, when considering how clean cafeteria trays are compared to toilet seats. It’s a shocker, but it’s true.
According to a study conducted by NSF International, cafeteria trays contain more germs than toilet seats!
Germ Stop reports on the NSF findings:
– Drinking water fountain spigots had the highest amount of bacteria on the tested surfaces — 2.7 million bacterial cells per square inch.
– A cafeteria tray had more than 10 times as many germs as a toilet seat (33,800 bacterial cells per square inch vs. 3,200 bacterial cells per square inch).
– A student’s hand had 1,500 bacterial cells per square inch.
– Commonly cleaned areas, such as desks and doorknobs had fewer germs (19 bacterial cells per square inch and 5 bacterial cells per square inch respectively), while computer keyboards and ear phones had significantly more at 260 bacterial cells per square inch and 740 bacterial cells per square inch, respectively.
Hmm, perhaps children should eat in the bathrooms at school rather than the cafeteria. I think I’ll go wash my hands.
Image Marshall Astor – Food Pornographer by on Flickr under a Creative Commons License
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s the kind of information that i don’t want to know
SO didn’t need to know that
Oh, this grosses me out! Thankfully my kids are taking their lunches to school and the school has really beefed up their efforts to keep the place clean – even having hand washing as part of the standard morning routine for our kindergarten and preschool classes. I’m not crazy about the fact that the kids are encouraged to use antibacterial liquid instead of soap and water (it’s quick and easy for them – I get that, but still…).
Germs are everywhere. I know. We do our best to keep ours to ourselves and wash our hands before eating.
I’m working on getting our 3 year old to keep hands and toys out of her mouth! Someday…
Are not good with this post.
some disgusting fact to know about.
so it’s like bacteria and germs every where you go in school.
kinda too hard to keep the kids away from being exposed to germs and bacteria.
parents concern to see there kids heading to school and might be coming back sick.
should be how good will the school facility be clean and healthy all the time.
Still I’m more worried about my 4yr old who goes to preschool and they don’t provide toilet seat covers for them!!!GROSS