Don't Double-Dip That Chip
by Motte Brown on 02/06/2009 at 12:24 PM
So I was listening to the John Tesh Radio Show yesterday ... and he was talking about double-dipping chip experiments done by a Clemson University (my alma mater) professor and a group of students. Important stuff.
What? You've never heard of double-dipping? Here's an exchange from Seinfeld's George Costanza with someone at a wake that'll help you out:
Timmy: What are you doing?
George: What?
Timmy: Did, did you just double dip that chip?
George: Excuse me?
Timmy: You double dipped a chip!
George: Double dipped? What, what, what are you talking about?
Timmy: You dipped a chip. You took a bite. And you dipped again.
George: So?
Timmy: That's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip. From now on, when you take a chip, just take one dip and end it.
Timmy was right. According to Clemson's research, double-dipping your chip leaves about 10,000 bacteria in the dip.
From the John Tesh website,
In an experiment that involved food technicians double-dipping, and even triple-dipping a bag of potato chips, scientists found the results disturbingly dirty. All it takes is one single bite to transfer more than 10-thousand bacteria from the mouth back into a bowl of dip.
So if you're feeling a little under the weather, it's probably because of double-dipping offenses that occurred at the Super Bowl party you attended.
1. HollyinOhio said the following at 12:26 PM on Feb 6:
Ugh...this reminds me of a work potluck a few months ago. One of my co-workers stood at the table with spoon in hand, eating straight out of the potato salad dish! Luckily I saw her do it. As soon as she disappeared, I pitched the rest in the garbage.
2. Kate said the following at 12:36 PM on Feb 6:
Interesting.
I wonder how much bacteria gets into the dip (or chips) from people's hands?
3. obewan said the following at 12:38 PM on Feb 6:
That is my pet peeve at the singles group potlucks. Some of the guys are real pigs and have no class at all. The women go out of the way to put serving spoons in the dip even. I saw one guy remove the spoon, set it aside, and start double, triple, and quadruple dipping his chips. That put an end to my use of that dip and I found something else to munch on.
4. NeedACatchyName said the following at 12:49 PM on Feb 6:
For me, the optimal solution has always been to have a spoon by the dip so that people place the necessary amount of dip on their plate and no one dips directly into the community dip container*. That way, you don't have to worry about double dipping, or that person who tries to dip their chip too deeply into the dip, thus sticking their fingertips into the dip.
* Don't you just love the phrase community dip container? I know I do! :) :) :)
5. Dani said the following at 12:59 PM on Feb 6:
HollyinOhio (#1), thank you for setting a great example!
A few years ago, at a Christmas party my family hosted, a woman who brought a tray of cookies declined to take them home. Her reason: "That's okay. Your dog licked most of them earlier."
*sigh* And you didn't throw them away immediately? I (admittedly) am not very meticulous about germs, but if I had seen my big ol' Dalmatian licking the powdered sugar off two dozen cookies, I would have felt obligated to do something about it.
6. Matt from DC said the following at 1:11 PM on Feb 6:
Wow, 10,000 bacteria per chip dip. Sounds scary. You should be more scared of kitchen sponges and rags (7 billion bacteria), cutting boards, kitchen surfaces, sink drains, doorknobs (millions of bacteria), and toothbrushes (9 million)!
So now you're thinking, Matt, but when is the last time you licked the kitchen sponge or the door knob? I might eat the dip with someone else 10,000 bacteria on it.
Since you asked rhetorically I won't answer your question in the paragraph above, but your hands have millions of bacteria AND fungi on them. Did you put them in your mouth today? Did you scratch your eye when it tickled? Quick! Pass the Purell!
Happy Friday.
* If any of you are sick I hope you feel better soon and stay away from my dip.
7. Marilyn-I must be a nasty girl said the following at 1:24 PM on Feb 6:
Oh wow, I had no idea that people were so touchy about this. I double dip all the time! (However, I DO use a spoon when it's provided.) I'm sure double dipping does transfer bacteria - but how much of that is actually harmful? I bet most of it is just the harmless normal flora that everyone has living in their mouths and on their skin.
8. Christina (in green) said the following at 1:28 PM on Feb 6:
lol...
this conversation DID have my reaching for the hand sanitizer.
i'm not overly meticulous with germs...i'm more concerned about finding a balance between under-exposure and over-exposure =p
I'd like to have a well-balanced immune system.
If I can handle (as Matt from DC seems to indicate) 9 million bacteria on the toothbrush that my 9 year old brother just finished using (unbeknownst to me), then I can handle 10,000 from a double dip =p
9. IMO said the following at 1:39 PM on Feb 6:
#7
LOL on your Name. Too funny!
10. Heather Koerner said the following at 2:06 PM on Feb 6:
What about the reverse double dip?
You know, when you dip, bite, then flip to the unbitten side and dip again?
Not that I do that. At least, not beyond my own family.
11. Ashley Harris said the following at 2:08 PM on Feb 6:
Heather (10)
I LOVE the reverse double-dip!
12. NeedACatchyName said the following at 2:53 PM on Feb 6:
I'm not a big fan of the reverse double dip. The problem with that is that the unbitten side that you dip on the second dip has had your hands all over it, so you're getting whatever germs you had on your hands in the dip. If you're gonna do this, I think it's best to break the chip into pieces and dip each piece individually, so as to convert a double dip into two single dips.
Wow, this is my second comment on this thread. I rarely ever post twice on a thread, so I wonder if this means that I put more thought into double dipping than into the other, more serious topics on this blog? Actually, it more than likely means that it's Friday afternoon at work, I have nothing to do, and I'm just trying to kill time until I can leave. :) :) :)
13. Heather Koerner said the following at 3:10 PM on Feb 6:
NeedaCatchyName (12):
Can we call your method the "split double dip"?
14. Kit said the following at 3:15 PM on Feb 6:
I always double dip...ooops!
15. NeedACatchyName said the following at 3:16 PM on Feb 6:
Heather at #13: I like it! In fact, I think I'll start using that term.
Wow, my third post on a thread. That has to be some sort of a record. And on that note, I think it's about time for me to finally go home!
16. BDB said the following at 3:38 PM on Feb 6:
That reminds me, I have dip left...
17. Shannon K said the following at 3:40 PM on Feb 6:
Heather (#13) and NeedACatchyName (#15):
"Split double dip," lol! I do that frequently and like this term for it, too.
As soon as I read Heather's comment I started humming "Stiff Upper Lip," and I've been fighting the urge to look up that scene from "Damsel in Distress" ever since. You *know* it's getting late on a Friday afternoon when I'm transported off to Fred Astaire land by a conversation about potato chips...
18. BDB said the following at 3:40 PM on Feb 6:
#7 wrote:
>>I bet most of it is just the harmless normal flora that everyone has living in their mouths and on their skin.<<
Reminds me of the time I asked one of the cheerleaders if she had any more gum, and she pulled half of it out of her mouth and handed it to me. And me, thinking it was a dare...
19. DannieA said the following at 4:41 PM on Feb 6:
this has totally gone to the 'ewww' side.
20. HoustonGal said the following at 5:13 PM on Feb 6:
Wasn't this the topic of a Seinfeld episode once....? George Costanza was accused of double-dipping, as I recall.
At church, the communion servers all rub Purell on their hands right before serving, and of course the congregation appreciates that.
This post is very good info....germs are everywhere. My co-workers have often laughed at the can of disinfectant wipes I use to clean my laptop, desk surface, etc. every few days. But I seem to be the only one on my team who didn't get sick this winter.....
21. Lydia said the following at 7:46 PM on Feb 6:
Double-dipping is perfectly legal when amongst your own family!
22. Brian said the following at 9:45 PM on Feb 6:
This has to be the most important thing ever discussed on boundless. That being said...
I think it's all a load of you-know-what. If you read the NYT article, you can see that it's more like 50 to 100 bacteria per bite, and the samples included water! Cheese dip ain't your problem: shaking someone's hand at the party is your problem. So my conclusion: double dipping in any semi-solid dip (guac, queso, etc.) is NOT spreading germs.
Silly.
23. Chris said the following at 10:04 PM on Feb 6:
I, for one, don't care. The more germs I'm exposed to (assuming they're not deadly), the better.
That way, when an eventual pandemic comes along, my immune system has been battle-tested and hardened.
Go ahead and double-dip. Violate the 5 second rule. Wipe the grease off your hands but don't wash before eating after working on the car. Get dirt in your picnic food. You'll be improving your chances for survival...;^)
24. Charie said the following at 10:21 PM on Feb 6:
The double dip is just about as gross as 'splitting a dessert' with someone. I'll keep my germs to myself and you to yours, thanks!
25. Jaime said the following at 7:44 AM on Feb 7:
I confess...I double dip, but only if I'm sharing dip/salsa with ONLY my husband. I figure that every time we kiss, we share enough germs. With anyone else...ick!
26. Hannah C. said the following at 8:38 AM on Feb 7:
I only double dip if it's just my dip or if it's someone I already have the germs of!
Otherwise I'll reverse double dip or split double dip, whatever you call it, when the chips provided are large. This is more likely to happen when plates are not readily available.
Also, I'm not sure how you can have hands all over a chip - usually they're held with two fingers and nothing else ever touches the chip! ;)
27. BDB said the following at 2:36 PM on Feb 7:
HoustonGal wrote:
>>At church, the communion servers all rub Purell on their hands right before serving, and of course the congregation appreciates that.<<
How did Christianity survive for 2000 years without Purell?
I'm becoming convinced that the new Peanut Allergies are created by people using too much hand sanitizer. Or maybe mothers who drink soy milk in their espresso. I dunno. The research about how kids who grow up with pets don't have nearly as many peanut allergies. The theory here is that if people grow up in sanitized conditions, their immune system doesn't come into contact with foriegn protiens other than food. So, it develops an immune response to the food, such as peanuts.
When I was a kid, I took peanut butter sandwiches to school all the time, and no one ever collapsed in anaphylaxis.
28. Dan said the following at 6:43 PM on Feb 7:
John Tesh.... really? Oh well, we all have our guilty pleasures.
29. Leah said the following at 8:14 PM on Feb 8:
Wow, I can't believe people think double-dipping is ok. Sure, there are lots of other germs around the house, but the human mouth is DIRTY. The human bite is the worst bite you can receive. I have a friend whose cousin received a bite from an intruder and he has to constantly go back for tests, every few weeks, because so many of the diseases you can contract can lie dormant for months before they're able to be detected.
Now, I'm not suggesting you can catch all these illnesses just from double-dipping. I'm illustrating that the germs you could *potentially* get *could* make you quite sick. Especially if the person double-dipping is sick. 10,000 germs might not sound like much in the grand scheme of thing, but it's not the number of germs that will make you sick. It's the type of germ that will make you sick.
I don't know anybody over the age of 10 who thinks double-dipping is acceptable. Maybe it's a difference in Australian culture compared to American?
(I agree with Hannah C though- if it's my own dip or I'm only sharing with someone whose germs I already share, like my husband or someone!) And I do the reverse-double dip, provided the thing I am eating is large enough that I know I haven't put the other end near my mouth!
BDB- keep in mind a lot of kids are born with these allergies, so having pets or not makes no difference in those situations.
HoustanGal- I think you need to re-read the original post ;)
30. Esther said the following at 10:36 PM on Feb 8:
At the risk of completely grossing everyone out-- it is standard practice in my family to share ice cream cones. In fact, when the kiddos are little, it is practically a necessity in order to keep the ice cream from melting all over, since they haven't mastered the fine art of licking all the drips.
As for chips, given that they are boiled in fat to begin with, why are we dipping them at all? Especially double-dipping. That was my mom's rationale against double-dipping, "You don't need that much dip anyhow!". Of course, the same logic held for carrots and celery, which I argue need some pepping up.
31. Christina (in green) said the following at 9:11 AM on Feb 9:
Of course, the same logic held for carrots and celery, which I argue need some pepping up.
Lol...that makes me laugh.
Dip can just be SOOO good! However, I'm eternally picky about my dips so I'm only likely to double dip in dip that I eat. Which isn't every dip and is only the stuff I really really like :)
So stay away from the home-made onion dip for Lay's Ruffles and the home-made veggie dip full of bacon bits and shredded cheese. You know I'll be hovering at those bowls.
However, if there is a party with people I don't know (my best friend and her husband hardly count), spoon on my own plate is definitly the way to go =p
My husband makes jokes about double dipping whenever we get any chips and dip at restaurants =p
32. (The Canadian) Andrew R said the following at 1:22 PM on Feb 9:
If there's ever chips and dip at a party, I'll take a plate, put a few chips on it, then stick a large chip in and scoop out as much dip as possible, and then put that on my plate. End of problem.
33. Dr. Ransom said the following at 2:14 PM on Feb 9:
Hmm. I could use the 10,000-bacteria-in-the-human-mouth argument to buttress a position that a couple should avoid kissing before Mawwiage.
But that would be too easy. ;-) I'm tempted to go the other way, because:
a) So what about after marriage? You're going to make yourself sick with shared germs and thus deprive your husband or wife of valuable and Christlike service and time?
b) Some studies show that germ swapping actually helps prevent getting sick. From the UK Telegraph today:
Hmm. I'm still not sure whether I've just written a parody or if I'm serious. ;-)34. Charles H. said the following at 5:40 PM on Feb 9:
Dan #28 - John Tesh's radio show doesn't actually play his music - it's a bit like the Delilah show, albeit without any of the witty commentary (see below) that she used to ad-lib before she was widely syndicated. And in fairness to Tesh, he's a lot better as a DJ (IMHO) than he was as a singer.
* Delilah vs. a caller:
Caller: Can you play "Can I Touch You There?"
Delilah: Are you two married?
Caller: Uh...
Caller: No, we aren't.
Delilah: Then I don't want anyone touching anyone there. I'll play something for you two, though.
And she plays "Let's Wait Awhile"! Classic.
35. Kelly said the following at 6:20 PM on Feb 9:
Dr. Ransom said:
to buttress a position that a couple should avoid kissing before Mawwiage.
Hey, I'm all for this!
I have been hospitalised TWICE for diseases I caught from kissing: glandular fever and tonsillitus.
The worst part is, I rarely kiss people at all, so I caught these in my late 20's because I hadn't been indiscriminately kissing as a teenager/young adult and therefore hadn't built up any kind of immunity! :(
36. farmer Tom said the following at 6:43 PM on Feb 9:
I would assume that those of you who seem so offended by double dipping, probably do not observe the three second rule either do you?
You know, if it's on the floor for less than three seconds, its ok to eat it!!
And even more of you would be grossed out if I peeled an apple for you with the knife I used to ("sterilize") the little pigs with.
37. Elizabeth said the following at 8:14 PM on Feb 9:
I just don't eat the dip. :p
38. BDB said the following at 10:54 PM on Feb 9:
Kelly #35 wrote:
>>because I hadn't been indiscriminately kissing as a teenager/young adult and therefore hadn't built up any kind of immunity! :(<<
Oh dear - so people whose "love language" isn't touching are cursed with a weakened immune system? Maybe they can compensate by traveling a lot and being exposed to regional things...
39. Leah said the following at 2:56 AM on Feb 10:
Kelly (35) - WHY would you kiss someone with glandular fever or tonsillitis, anyway? :P Oh and btw, I'm mildly insulted by the suggestion that to have an immunity, you must have been "indiscriminately kissing" people. Only person I've ever kissed is my husband and I'm one of the healthiest people I know, continually exposed to my friends who get sick from all sorts of things. Have also kissed him when he's been sick and I've been perfectly fine. There are plenty of ways to build up a good immunity system ;)
farmer Tom (36) - Most people I know observe a ten second rule, and none of them double-dip :P The thing is, double-dipping puts OTHER people at risk. By observing a 3/5/10 second rule, you're only putting yourself at risk.
40. Louise from Chicago said the following at 5:57 AM on Feb 10:
I attended a fundraiser on Sunday and there was a chocolate shop giving away samples and one of the products was chocolate covered potato chips.
Those definitely did not need any dip!
41. Matt from DC said the following at 8:48 AM on Feb 10:
Leah,
That's because you're the carrier infecting everyone! What a good husband to kiss you anyway.
42. Rachael said the following at 9:00 AM on Feb 10:
I'm not constantly in double-dipping environments, but, my current thought is that I wouldn't intend to dip the 'bite part' in a setting where a non-husband might eat that part of the dip.
As for dessert-sharing? I recommend it :). Yum!
43. Kelly said the following at 6:10 PM on Feb 10:
:p
Glandular fever/Mono is known as the "kissing disease". Most people catch it as a teenager and if you get it in your teens, it's typically MUCH less harmful than if you catch it as an adult.
That's where I was coming from with my "indiscriminately kissing" comment. My doctor (and the research I did) told me that most kids get it at high school and it's a mere blip in their lives - a week of flu - rather than a good year of chronic fatigue.
Of COURSE I didn't kiss someone while knowing they were ill! People can be carriers of mono but not exhibit any symptoms. And this links back to the original discussion re: double-dipping. You could be coming down with something and infect everyone just by double-dipping!
BDB - I don't know if I'm reading too much into your comments lately but they seem to be subtly snarky.
44. BDB said the following at 7:58 PM on Feb 10:
Kelly (#43) wrote:
>>BDB - I don't know if I'm reading too much into your comments lately but they seem to be subtly snarky. <<
The ones that are overtly snarky aren't being posted anymore. I suspect that there's been come kind of change in policy... ;P
45. Kelly said the following at 8:01 PM on Feb 11:
BDB - Hmmm, good point. A few of my posts haven't shown up recently but I can't quite remember what their content was.
Anyway, I apologise if I have offended you with my other posts. I tend to rage against the institution - it's a side-effect of a Christian living in a secular world and getting caught in situations that a "safe church community" would prevent.
46. Dan said the following at 2:57 PM on Feb 16:
Charles H. (#34)- Touche. I will back off on my John Tesh criticism. Also, I will be looking for clips of this "Delilah" show. That is all.