There’s a food safety feeding frenzy going on in the nation’s media outlets. Not a week goes by when Ben or I (and I’m sure dozens of other food safety geeks) get a call from an earnest reporter who wants to dish the dirt on dangerous dining, or seep into the city’s soiled food service underbelly, or test for toxins in takeout.

But there’s always someone who will play along. Yesterday it was menus and movie theaters.

Not the food on the menu, but the actual menu as a source of dangerous microorganisms, Same with movie theater chairs.

South Carolina’s Live 5 News –with Tracey Amick — reported that they tested a single menu from a single outlet of chain restaurants.

"The menu from the Olive Garden had no bacteria…and the ones from Noisy Oyster, Applebees, and Waffle House had normal levels of normal staph…nothing to cause concern.

"But the TGI Friday’s menu had 100 units of Bacillus Cereus which if ingested…could make you sick with diahrrea and vomiting."

Charlotte, N.C’s WCNC — with action reporter Jeff Sonier — bought tickets at a half dozen Charlotte area movie theaters.

Then we took our hidden cameras inside, along with a black light to locate stains and other foreign material, and swabs to take samples. We sealed up everything we found in test tubes, and sent them off to a laboratory near Raleigh.

… most of the germs WCNC found in most of the movie theaters we tested probably won’t make you sick. But there were some exceptions – such as the seatback sample of bacteria we swabbed from the Carolina Pavilion theater on South Boulevard. The laboratory identified it as bacillus cereus.

Don’t eat the menu. And don’t lick movie theater seats.