The Gross Reason You Should Never Pepper Your Food in Restaurants!

Chances are, you’ve already heard that the menu is the dirtiest item in a restaurant—harboring about 185,000 bacteria, which is just one of the many everyday items that are dirtier than a toilet seat. Surprisingly, the second dirtiest item in a restaurant isn’t in the bathroom. In fact, it’s right on your table.

Before you reach for the pepper shaker, think about how many people have touched it before you. Does it look clean? Is it sticky? Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for restaurants to overlook the cleanliness—or lack thereof—of each individual shaker. (This goes for salt, sugar, cheese, and other shakers, too—pepper just happens to beat them in the germ-harboring surface contest.) According to a study conducted by ABC News, on average, a pepper shaker’s bacteria count is 11,600.

“Most salt and pepper shakers are only wiped down if they appear dirty, and even then, only with a damp cloth that people who bus tables keep in their pockets,” Jonas Sickler, Director of Operations at ConsumerSafety.org, told Reader’s Digest. “While some restaurants collect, refill, and wipe down shakers, they are rarely properly emptied and sanitized.” - from an article by Brittany Gibson
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 When I read this article, I was a bit shocked. After all, who really even thinks about germs when you're getting ready to sit down to a meal at some restaurant. I wondered what are you supposed to do, bring a can of Lysol to every meal eaten out? Well, in my case, the solution was to simply skip adding anything in a shaker. I was on a low salt diet, anyways and restaurants never seem to offer a salt substitute.