# Drinking out of cans **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578 "2011-10-04T17:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/21 "2011-10-04T18:38:14Z")
It does nothing for the banana worms, however. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/22 "2011-10-04T18:46:09Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I have to admit I almost never wash fruits or veggies. Yeah other people have probably handled them… shrug. I don’t use that hand sanitizer either, I just wash my hands once in a while. I wonder what the shelf life is on common germs and cooties that are exposed to the air. You are so doomed. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/23 "2011-10-04T18:50:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I doubt rinsing is all that effective at removing pesticides or wax - at least not if the vegetables are still in good shape when you’re finished. I’m sure you’re right, but it still lets me feel like I’m doing something productive. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/24 "2011-10-04T19:04:31Z")
Fair enough. Bit like the five second rule (ten seconds if you blow on the item after picking it up) ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/25 "2011-10-04T19:47:51Z")
My friend always wipes her cans off on her t-shirt. She’s given me the rat piss spiel a few times. If I saw a rat piss on my can, I wouldn’t wipe it up with my t-shirt and carry on my merry, soda-drinking, urine-stained way. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/26 "2011-10-04T19:49:52Z")
Yeah, I saw some news bit on television \ where it was proven that only irradiation gets most of the gunk off veggies. Washing does almost nothing. Scrubbing helps a little more, but not much. (IIRC, doctors scrubbing for OR scrub for a length of time because it’s the scrubbing that helps more than the soap). Even bleach \ only kills part of the bacteria. Hell, irradiation doesn’t even kill it all, but it does TONS more than any of the other options. So I barely wash things, just enough to get the wax off it. And I don’t ‘worry’ about cans, I just wonder about it. It’s like licking the ground, if you’re drinking in every dusty, dirty place that can has been. I have no allergies though so apparantly it’s done wonders for MY immune system. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/27 "2011-10-04T19:55:40Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I have to admit I almost never wash fruits or veggies. Yeah other people have probably handled them… shrug. I don’t use that hand sanitizer either, I just wash my hands once in a while. I wonder what the shelf life is on common germs and cooties that are exposed to the air. > > When I become older and/or infirm, I’ll probably be more careful about such things. > > I don’t wash the aluminum can top unless it’s visibly crud-ridden. When you wash fruits and vegetables it’s not to clean off germs from other people, it’s to clean off stuff that got on them from being in the field. Like E. Coli. Most restaurants or delis will wash fruits and vegetables in bleach water to be sure to sanitize them before cutting. Even if it wasn’t for the bugs, there’s still actual physical dirt in things like leek or romaine and right on the surface of cantaloupe or watermelon. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/28 "2011-10-04T19:58:18Z")
\ Shhhh! I use wooden cutting boards! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/29 "2011-10-04T20:05:16Z")
I believe it’s been demonstrated that wooden cutting boards can be more hygienic than plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/30 "2011-10-04T20:08:39Z")
I just drank some soda from a can before posting this, and I didn’t wash it beforehand! The thought of washing or wiping a can before using had never occurred to me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/31 "2011-10-04T20:47:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I believe it’s been demonstrated that wooden cutting boards can be more hygienic than plastic. Not really, but I can’t find the snopes page that rebuts it. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/32 "2011-10-04T21:25:07Z")
I used to wash fruit fairly thoroughly after working fruit picking- one of the places I worked had a toilet in the field but no sink. There was another one in the main buildings, which had a sink (and even a shower) but it was 10 minutes walk away, and I did get sniggered at for walking back to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/33 "2011-10-04T21:43:16Z")
Having just popped open a beer before sitting down to read the Dope, may I just say that I hate you just a little bit right now? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/34 "2011-10-04T21:59:55Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > It occurs to me that this has to be one of the most unsanitary things ever. Yeah I do it, and yeah, I half-heartedly wipe the lip of the can before drinking out of it, but…really? We scrub fruits and vegetables, use sanitizer all day long, but there doesn’t seem to be much concern over WHERE THAT CAN HAS BEEN! > > Is it because aluminum doesn’t hold germs or what? Always wondered about the pathology of can germs. 😛 I’ve never bought sanitizer, don’t scrub fruits and vegetables (I might brush soil off with my unsanitized hands) 🙂 , use a wooden cutting board (well, bamboo) instead of a synthetic one and drink straight out of cans or bottles I buy at gas stations or convenience stores. Don’t give much thought to germs or rat-hair/bug part counts in my food or whether the person who picked the tomatoes I just bought pissed and then didn’t wash his hands after. Don’t care, really. Don’t get sick, hardly never-ever, either. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/35 "2011-10-04T22:12:36Z")
Is mouse/rat piss noticeably less sterile than human piss? If not, why worry about it? It’s probably less bad for you than whatever’s in the can! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/36 "2011-10-04T22:29:00Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I did know a guy who was a supermarket manager, and he said “I NEVER drink out of a can, because I know what goes on with them in the back of the supermarket.” He didn’t elaborate, but I’m guessing it’s more of a “bring those cases over here, I have to stand on something to reach the lightbulb” issue rather than “let’s pee all over the cans and see if anyone notices”. I hope I’m right. You haven’t lived until you’ve had wild hot stock boy / cashier lady monkey sex on top of a pallet of Mountain Dew. Just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/37 "2011-10-04T22:37:25Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Is mouse/rat piss noticeably less sterile than human piss? If not, why worry about it? It’s probably less bad for you than whatever’s in the can! A _healthy_ rat’s urine isn’t much of a health issue, but as the previously linked Snopes article points out, a diseased rat’s urine _can_ carry and transmit leptospirosis and hantavirus. I’m not saying that it’s likely that you would get those from a can, but you didn’t ask about that. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/38 "2011-10-04T22:42:57Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Is mouse/rat piss noticeably less sterile than human piss? If not, why worry about it? It’s probably less bad for you than whatever’s in the can! Besides, it adds flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/39 "2011-10-04T22:46:05Z")
So THATS where Mountain Dew came from! ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578/40 "2011-10-04T23:09:47Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I just drank some soda from a can before posting this, and I didn’t wash it beforehand! The thought of washing or wiping a can before using had never occurred to me. Later, I ate an apple and a banana without washing them. I like to live on the edge. Germophobes always make me roll my eyes. It’s nothing but woo with pseudoscientific pretensions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-out-of-cans/598578.md?page=3)