Backwash and ice cream - same problem?

[Prince Zahn]

Hi everyone.
This may not be the most pleasant topic ever to meet the forums, but bear with me:
For as long as I can remember I've been drinking out of a cup rather than straight out of the bottle(this goes to all drinks.) Being raised so eventually made others drinking out of the bottle(and backwashing in general) a pet peeve of mine.
Now, recently, while nomming on a pack of ice cream, my brother comes up to me and compares eating ice cream with the same spoon to backwashing into the same bottle, much like "double dipping the chip" as mentioned on Seinfeld.
This doesn't sound very reasonable to to me, as I thought it was total bogus when I saw it on TV. But soon afterwards I was wondering if the playground had a clue and could answer me.

So what do you think? Is ice cream spoon=backwashing?

[Xuc Xac]

What makes you think a cup is immune to backwash while a bottle isn't?

[DeadManSleeping]

See above poster.

It really depends on what your problem with "backwash" is. A spoon that has been in your mouth will certainly have your saliva on it.

[Knaight]

Now, recently, while nomming on a pack of ice cream, my brother comes up to me and compares eating ice cream with the same spoon to backwashing into the same bottle, much like "double dipping the chip" as mentioned on Seinfeld.

Here's the thing: double dipping the chip is a problem for two reasons. One of them is the cultural attitude towards germs, which makes the second problem a problem. The second problem is that "the chip" is being used in a shared bowl of salsa, dip, or whatever else. Meaning that double dipping is contaminating the shared bowl. Ice cream though? There's you, there's your pack of ice cream, and you eat it. The second problem goes away, and the first only enables the second and is irrelevant. So, if you have a shared ice cream container, and are eating from it with a spoon, it is like double dipping, which is why you take the ice cream out and put it in a bowl in that case.

[Tirian]

I don't want to dismiss the social code entirely, but any true medical fears from backwash are utterly overrated. I'm drinking some water here just to assure myself and I encourage you to test it for yourself. Water doesn't go from inside your mouth back into the container. You'd have to make that happen, and it feels disgusting to me while I'm doing it. At the worst, if I'm being very sloppy then the wet part of my lips were on the side of the container, but again that feels awkward when drinking from a cup or a bottle. The only thing I double-dip is french fries in my personal little cup of ketchup, but again it's just the tiniest portion of food that was exposed to the thinnest coating of saliva that covers my teeth. Unless you're a hypochondriac, you really want to be looking at handshaking and coughing as your major disease vectors before sweating the small stuff IMHO.

[Anxe]

Double dipping is also inappropriate because you're taking more than your fair share of salsa.

But yeah, ice cream spoon is not backwashing. You're the only one using it. Unless its the serving spoon or you are eating straight from the container. And as said, I don't think its a health risk, its just rude.

[Traab]

Double dipping is nothing more than a perceived problem, unless the person is jamming the entire chip in his mouth, sucking off the salsa, then biting off a random amount of the chip and putting it back in the dip, its barely any more contamination than the salsa gets from being in the open air. Worst case shards of the chip being double dipped might have touched the outside of your lips. Meh. Backwash however, is a different thing, thats actually letting the liquid swirl around in your mouth then letting it go back into the bottle/cup/whatever.

[Winter_Wolf]

Treading into "eww" territory here, but from when I was growing up, this was how backwash worked: If you're sharing the bottle between people, you never drink the last part, because it's ALL spit.

Whether or not that's actually TRUE, I don't know. I do know that people would take swigs by tilting the bottle way up, then bringing it all the way down before removing from their lips. There was considerable backwash, and the backwash pros pretty much got to keep the bottle after their turn because of it. :smallyuk: Then again, high schoolers are just pretty nasty to begin with. :smallwink:

Unless you're putting your spoon back into the tub with half-melted ice cream from you mouth still on the spoon, I'd say it's far less egregious. And everyone I know double-dips chips and such into the dipping sauce.

Also note that I have spent most of my life in cultures where potlach/potluck, sharing bites from the same food, and everyone dipping their chopsticks into the same bowl/vat/container is NORMAL behavior.

[H Birchgrove]

My dad has a thing against drinking directly from bottles and beverage cans, but he has never spoken about this backwash thing you guys are talking about. He's worried that the bottles and cans have gotten dirty from the transportation and/or storage at the grocery store. Seeing how dusty cans can be at stores, I agree with him to some degree.

Me, I drink with a glass when appropriate, but when not, I rinse the container with water or when outside dry them with facial tissue if I get worried over germs or dirt.

[Weezer]

I think we need a more comprehensive description of the ice cream eating situation. Are you serving it into a bowl and then eating it? Or are you eating it directly from the carton and then returning a half eaten carton to the freezer? If the first then there is no problem with oral contamination, on the other hand if the second scenario is the accurate one then yes you are performing the ice cream equivalent of "backwash".

[Tirian]

on the other hand if the second scenario is the accurate one then yes you are performing the ice cream equivalent of "backwash".

No, that's the ice cream equivalent of double-dipping (a little worse because the back of a spoon is going to have more saliva than the bitten edge of a chip, but a little not worse because any kind of germ that can survive in both the human mouth and a freezer would have wiped out mankind by other means by now). Backwash would be eating a spoonful of ice cream out of the carton, getting brain freeze, spitting the ice cream back into the carton and putting it back in the freezer.

[Coidzor]

No. It's a triviality and processor power that could be spent on better things. Like admiring halloween costumes.

[Mando Knight]

He's worried that the bottles and cans have gotten dirty from the transportation and/or storage at the grocery store. Seeing how dusty cans can be at stores, I agree with him to some degree.
:smallconfused:
...They should be sealed. Besides, if the inside is already dirty, pouring it into another container isn't going to help. If it's dust on the outside getting in you're worried about, just wipe off the top before opening.

As for backwash, I've never had that issue come up at all.

[llamamushroom]

:smallconfused:
...They should be sealed. Besides, if the inside is already dirty, pouring it into another container isn't going to help. If it's dust on the outside getting in you're worried about, just wipe off the top before opening.

As for backwash, I've never had that issue come up at all.

Birchgrove would be referring to the outside of the can, that the liquid has to flow over and that you put your lips to. I've been told in no uncertain terms here in China to never drink from the can - apparently, the bottling companies have rat problems, so poison contamination, etc.

Anyway, backwash is going to have a negligible health effect (unless you have viruses, in which case you should definitely not be sharing eating utensils), because those mouth bacteria you have are things we all have. It's not going to kill, and in the vast, vast, huge, vast, ginormous, vast majority of non-viral cases, nothing noticeable will happen.

Sidenote: doctor parents mean an interesting relationship with bacteria when growing up...

[Coidzor]

Anyway, backwash is going to have a negligible health effect (unless you have viruses, in which case you should definitely not be sharing eating utensils), because those mouth bacteria you have are things we all have. It's not going to kill, and in the vast, vast, huge, vast, ginormous, vast majority of non-viral cases, nothing noticeable will happen.

Frenching: It doesn't generally kill us, y'know.

[Elder Tsofu]

*Looks up "frenching"*

Breaking up the fibres of meat by cutting, usually diagonally or in a criss-cross pattern.
---
I agree, it should usually not kill us. If we're not the meat in question that is.
---

And backwash? The only time I've seen it was when my youngest littlebrother have had a drink but he mended his ways after 6 years of age. Note that he before that age sucked on candy and put it back into the bowl, or licking his hand clean and then jamming it straight in since he didn't know that was an unacceptable behaviour.

Putting your spoon back into the community ice-cream, well it has been in your mouth it is now in the ice-cream. If you're extremely gross/uncaring you might have added a spoonful of saliva too.

[Rawhide]

FYI - One particular viral disease that can spread in this way is infectious mononucleosis (AKA glandular fever, kissing disease, and mono). It might not be as likely as with a larger exchange of saliva (such as a french kiss), but it is still possible. It spreads like wildfire through young children, who have a tendency to share cups.

[bluewind95]

I'm kind of OCD and also easily grossed out. I've never been able to share cups or any other thing that has even the slightest chance of sharing saliva. So yeah. If you're eating from the container and leaving it for other people to eat, it is, to me, about as gross as backwash. If you're double-dipping, same. If you're drinking from the bottle, same.

I'm not even worried about germs. I live in Mexico and have eaten in food stalls that are out at the streets. I'm sure I've eaten worse. It's just the ickiness on thinking that I might perhaps unwittingly be swallowing someone's salty, slimy saliva... ew.

[enderlord99]

*Looks up "frenching"*

Breaking up the fibres of meat by cutting, usually diagonally or in a criss-cross pattern.
---
I agree, it should usually not kill us. If we're not the meat in question that is.
---


Can I sig that?

[H Birchgrove]

:smallconfused:
...They should be sealed. Besides, if the inside is already dirty, pouring it into another container isn't going to help. If it's dust on the outside getting in you're worried about, just wipe off the top before opening.


Birchgrove would be referring to the outside of the can, that the liquid has to flow over and that you put your lips to. I've been told in no uncertain terms here in China to never drink from the can - apparently, the bottling companies have rat problems, so poison contamination, etc.

What llamamushroom said.

Oh, the stories my dad would tell about his work trips in China. :smallsigh: