Are you guilty of this?

Crisps and dip are a perfect snack for watching a movie, for having friends over or for serving at a party. And while a dip is the perfect partner for your favourite crisps, crackers or crunchy veg, the way you eat them might actually be pretty harmful. We all know someone who double-dips when they eat, they take some food, dip it into some sauce or dip take a bite, then dips the same bit of food into the sauce again. The habit is probably something your mammy gives out to you about because it's seen as sloppy and unlady-like, but there might be more to it than that. According to The Sunday Times double-dipping is really quite bad for you. Harvard University's Healthbeat journal studied the effects of committing this crime. Dr Robert Shmerling from the study found that the number of bacteria in the dip skyrocketed once double-dipping occurred. Across a number of experiments it was found that bacteria grows significantly after dipping but interestingly, the type of dip used makes a difference. In one of the experiments different types of dips were used such a cheese, chocolate and salsa, and the study found that salsa was the worst offender when it came to multiplying bacteria. According to the Journal of Food Safety it was found that saliva contained 1m bacteria per millilitre. Which means that: "About 700 bacterial species are found in the mouth and ... most are considered pathogenic [capable of causing disease]." So the next time you get yourself some dip to go with your food, be careful of dipping the same bit of food in twice, and if you see dip on the table at a party, maybe give it a miss.