Driving in cars with girls and foodborne illness

I haven’t put on makeup, played video games or combed my hair while driving – because I never do any of those things – but I’ve done everything else in this pop survey released in May and discussed by my friend and his wife as they drove to Vermont and back.

According to the study:

• 72% eat food while driving.
• 35% have taken clothes off or put clothes on while driving.
• 29% have kissed others while driving and 15% have performed sexual acts while driving.
• 28% have sent text messages while driving.
• 23% say they’ve combed their hair while behind the wheel.
• 13% have put on makeup while driving.
• 12% have written or read e-mails while driving.
• 10% reported reading newspapers or magazines while driving.
• 5% confessed to having played video games.
• 5% say they have shaved while behind the wheel.

Yesterday the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported those who eat while driving could be at a greater risk of food poisoning.

Scientists testing swabs taken from a typical family car discovered Bacillus cereus and staphylococcus in the interior, including the steering wheel, gear stick and door handles.

Another pop science survey that is meaningless.

Dr Anthony Hilton, reader in microbiology at Aston University said,

“People would be horrified at the prospect of eating from a toilet seat however they ought to be aware that eating from a contaminated car dashboard may represent the same health hazards.”

Always a possibility. Another survey revealed 58 per cent of car owners had found food remains lying around the interior when cleaning out the car.

That doesn’t mean people eat it: hint, don’t eat the food lying around in a car.
 

This entry was posted in Food Safety Policy and tagged , , , , , by Douglas Powell. Bookmark the permalink.

About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time