Love your afternoon cuppa in the office? Think again. A new study finds that office teabags can carry as many as 17 times more germs than a toilet seat.

‘Simply washing one’s hands thoroughly can help to overcome the potential cross contamination risks associated with the office tea run.’

Peter Barratt of Initial Washroom Hygiene believes that office workers should be more aware of hygiene in their communal kitchens. According to scientists, the average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, in comparison to only 220 for a toilet seat. 




The study took a poll of 1,000 workers and found that 80 percent of people working in an office wouldn’t think to wash their hands before making drinks for colleagues. Being aware of a mug’s owner is also important – more than one in 10 people surveyed admitting to accidentally mixed up mugs on a tea run, with five percent saying they have deliberately mixed them up.
Dr Barratt says: "If you stop to think about the number of different hands that touch things such as the kettle handle, tea bag box lid, mugs, and so on, the potential for cross contamination really adds up," he explains.
He added: "Using anti-bacterial wipes on kitchen surfaces and regularly cleaning your mug can pay huge dividends in terms of maintaining a healthy workforce."
Source-Medindia