More Results…
Are you curious to find out what other “junks” could potentially be in the snow? With HPC (Heterotrophic Plate Count) method, the melted snow is mixed with some molten agar on plates. Subsequently, these plates are incubated at 35 °C for 48 hours, to allow the growth of bacteria and any other microorganisms. There is a total of four plates; two for “clean” snow and another two for dirty snow.
To interpret results, simply count the colonies with a colony counter.
Here are the results:
“Clean” snow has an average count of 44 (51 & 37).
Dirty snow has an average count of 65 (60 & 70).
Hmm… looks like the “clean” snow is not a whole lot cleaner than the dirty snow. My conclusions? The presence of microorganisms is inevitable in food intake, most of the time. We don’t usually get sick immediately upon consumption, as our bodies are protected by the immune system. Have you ever wonder if the ice used to prepare A.B.C. at various food stalls is clean to begin with? I won’t be surprised if the it turns out to be more “contaminated” than the fresh snow I’ve had!
Clean and dirty are just relative terms. Clean doesn’t mean that there is no microorganisms in it, but it’s “clean” enough not to make us sick. Conversely, dirty can be something that looked gross even with naked eyes and make us ill after consuming. As long as our bodies can fight against the foreign microorganisms and keep us healthy, having “not-so-clean” food once in a while, might help to build up a stronger immune system :)
Some might not agree with this. Anyway, it’s just my personal opinion. After all, I survived from eating my eco-friendly “natural” A.B.C. :P
Tags: Experience, Life
February 28th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I was told by a medical officer that our mouths are even dirtier than we think, with all sort of bacteria growing inside.
March 1st, 2009 at 12:50 am
Ai Shiang,
I’ll have to agree with it. There are certainly microorganisms in our mouths. I’ve seen colonies of them with HPC test. We live with them, and hope that they don’t threaten our health; otherwise, that’s when immune system comes into play ;)