As the summer is heating up so are the use of reusable water bottles.
Staying hydrated is key to enjoying the summer sun. But, are you washing your reusable water bottle properly?
KETV News Watch 7 joined us a few weeks ago to see if staff members around the office are cleaning out their water bottles properly. If not, what does that mean? Our senior microbiologist Blaine Debore took on the challenge of swabbing and testing each of the water bottles. Check out their story below to find out the results.
KETV News Watch 7 -How dirty is your water bottle?
What is Aerobic Plate Count Testing?
Aerobic Plate Counts or ‘APC’ are used as an indicator as to how much bacteria is counted on a particular sample. In this case, the sample is our re usable water bottles. We hope none is detected but, for the KETV news room that was not the case. Blaine described that some of the bottles required diluting up to four times before the amount of bacteria on the plate could be counted. Meaning there was so much in the water bottles it was overwhelming. The culprit those lids and notches on the bottle.
If you’re wondering what to do about that the answer is simple. Wash your water bottles by hand. A dishwasher does scrub every crack and crevice and that’s where the bacteria lives.
Interested in bacteria testing?
Take a look at our Environmental Monitoring and Food Safety Analysis at our website under Food Safety and Environmental Testing. Contact our client services team at 402-334-7770 to speak to an account manager or request a price quote for analysis.