Troy+K’s+2015+OpEd+Article

== Throughout my near 17 years of living, I have discovered many things that greatly annoy me. Some of which include slow J-walkers, when my dog chews on my shoes and last but not least, not screwing the lids on sauce bottles. You see, in my house my family members think it’s a good idea to simply place the lid on top of the sauce bottle, lacking to twist the lid back on the bottle. Now, why would that be such a bad thing it saves you a lot of time screwing on, and off the lid. Well, I am here to tell you that “placing” the lid on a bottle is not only annoying to those around you but it is also very unsanitary. I’m sure everyone reading this has been in a grocery store, and seen the oil based salad dressing, like balsamic vinaigrette or Italian dressing, and the different oils and spices in the dressing separate, and form layers. A great way to mix the various layers together is to (you guessed it) shake the bottle. Now, on several occasions I’ve made a delicious salad, and what better way to top off a delectable salad than a wonderful dressing. Upon finding the dressing in the refrigerator I would discover that the dressings oils have separated, so what do I do? I shake the bottle! Not knowing that the person before me lacked to properly secure and tighten the lid. So instead of enjoying that wonderful salad I told you about, I am sponging Newman’s Balsamic vinaigrette off the ceiling. ==

== “Setting” on the lid is extremely unsanitary, and I’ll tell you why. When you take the lid off of a bottle, and immediately put the lid back on after using it an extremely small amount of bacteria has the ability to enter the bottle. When the lid is secure on the bottle no bacteria can enter (the whole purpose of the lid). But if you just simply set the lid on top of the bottle you allow for a superfluous amount of bacteria to enter the bottle. “Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as twenty minutes.” Room temperature is 70˚F so not only would the bacteria in the bottle be growing but more and more bacteria are ingoing into the bottle, and that bacteria would be growing. Refrigeration only slows down the multiplication of bacteria, so once the bacteria is in the bottle its there to stay. ==