Dining Out? Skip the Lemon

I've always viewed the lemon as a symbol of health and wellness—tart, cleansing and refreshing. But a recent study has found that the lemon wedges gracing the rims of beverages in many restaurants are actually breeding grounds for harmful germs.

In a study of 21 restaurants, two out of three lemon wedges carried disease-causing bacteria. "It was like they had dipped it in raw meat or something, it was gross," says a microbiologist involved in the research.

Yuck.

I take this as a reminder to consider the origin of everything. The lemon doesn't magically appear on the glass--a (glove-free) hand often places it there.

To learn more about the study, watch this YouTube video.