A microbiologist has revealed just how dirty your plates really are – even after they’ve been washed – ahead of Christmas.
Nicholas Aicher, a senior quality control analyst, regularly goes viral for testing the cleanliness of everyday items, sharing his experiments with his 456,000 followers.
In one clip, which racked up over ten million views, he tested bacterial growth on dishes straight after use, after hand washing, and after running them through a dishwasher.
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“I thought it would be fun for people to know all the little nastiness that we don’t think about every day,” the Chicago-based content creator told What’s The Jam.
The video shows Nicholas examining the plates at each stage, later testing them for bacteria.
Plastic samples revealed bacterial growth on all of them, though the dishwasher-cleaned plate had significantly less.
Text over the clip described the pre-washed dishes as showing “veiny” bacteria, while the hand-washed plate “left a good amount of staph behind”.
The dishwasher-cleaned plate showed just one piece of bacteria, with Nicholas adding: “Well, well, look at that.”
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The TikTok experiment gained 560,000 likes, with viewers shocked by the results.
One commented: “I’m surprised the hand wash was so poor. Glad the dishwasher was so good!”
Another said: “Ok but you didn’t wash the dish properly.”
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A third added: “I wish I could go back in time and show this to my dad who refused to buy a dishwasher because he had us to clean the dishes.”
Others said: “I need to send this to my roommates who refuse to use the dishwasher and hand wash everything instead. And poorly at that.”
One viewer summed it up: “This why other people can’t wash my dishes what was that.”
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