The cake is the most important part of the birthday party. People all over the world celebrate the occasion by blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. But the expert said the process can lead to the transmission of thousands of bacteria.
Paul Dawson, a professor of food safety at Clemson University in the US, that a study by his team found that a single hit releases “about 1,000” bacteria. The culprit, according to Professor Dawson, is the droplets of water that come out when we blow out candles.
“We found about 1,000 bacteria when someone blew, and virtually no bacteria on the surface that wasn’t blown,” said the food safety expert.
“My advice would be if someone blows out the candles, especially if they do it carelessly, if I get a slice, I’ll scrape off the top layer,” Professor Dawson added.
However, he said that not everyone needs to worry about getting infected immediately from eating such a cake.
“There is probably very little danger in eating birthday cake that has been blown because we are with other people all the time. The real concern is for the immunocompromised and those who are sick, elderly or have an illness,” Professor Dawson said.
In 2017, a study published in the Canadian Center of Science and Education drew attention to such a risk by studying the entire process in detail.
He also pointed to “bioaerosols in human breath” as a source of bacteria transferred to cake surfaces.
“To test aerosol transfer onto the cake, the frosting was spread evenly on foil and then birthday candles were placed over the foil into a Styrofoam base. After eating the pizza, the test subjects were asked to blow out the candles. Samples of the frosting were collected sterilely and then surface plated. ” , to determine the level of bacterial contamination. Blowing candles over the surface of the frosting had 1,400% more bacteria compared to unblown frosting,” the study states.
Bacteria and other microorganisms could be transferred from the respiratory tract of a person who blew out a candle to food consumed by others.
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