Do Flies Totally Spoil Your Picnic Lunch?

This episode is sponsored by Wren, a website where you calculate your carbon footprint. Sign up to make a monthly contribution to offset your carbon footprint or support rainforest protection projects: www.wren.co/st...
You've probably heard of the five-second rule, but what if a fly lands on your food? Is there some kind of...five-fly rule? Are flies a food safety hazard, or can you still enjoy that slice of watermelon?
Hosted by: Michael Aranda
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[@SciShow]

This episode is sponsored by Wren, a website where you calculate your carbon footprint. Sign up to make a monthly contribution to offset your carbon footprint or support rainforest protection projects: www.wren.co/start/scishow

[@AnSq00]

Wren is an obvious scam. Stop partnering with them.

[@nickkk420]

It'd be interesting to do a video on the viability and efficacy of paying for carbon credits,

[@manthanpakhawala6365]

@@nickkk420 There is a great video on this by Wendover Productions which covers the topic of carbon credits! Link: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4iWmJSboaesprs

[@Dragrath1]

I have normally liked your videos for many years now but so long as you continue to support that fossil fuel industry blame deflection campaign Wren I'm afraid I can't consciously continue to do so for ethical concerns. Yes the rainforests need protection but these corporate schemes are not the way to do it try boycotting products that come from deforestation either directly and indirectly and joining or supporting homegrown advocacy groups that restore indigenous peoples rights etc. instead.

[@Ghostrander]

Here's a great video concerning wren and other carbon offset companies kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKGbq3SYe7CjjZI

[@BallisticDamages]

Nothing I hate more than going into a store and seeing flies buzzing around inside the bread and pastry displays 😣

[@mrexclusive5406]

Wal-Mart

[@avariceseven9443]

There are flies everywhere. It’s not too bad if the flies are outside the food display but if they’re inside, then that just means they are lazy. I live in a “3rd world country”, yet most of us try to shoo those flies away at least.

[@arthas640]

@@avariceseven9443 yeah it's nearly impossible to keep flies out of a store but absolutely possible to keep them out of display cases. Its pretty gross when you see them buzzing around inside the donut case of the local bakery.

[@CesarIsaacPerez]

Yep, I just walk out. Not spending $$$ there.

[@skykid]

well there's house/horse flies and then there's fruit flies which are different

[@martir.7653]

The number of bacteria that a few flies would deposit on your food is tiny, and those bacteria don't have a time to multiply if you're going to eat that food soon anyway. The bigger problem with flies is cross-contamination in storage: food after cooking or pasteurization is mostly sterile and assumed to have a certain shelf life. But if flies bring in bacteria from other sources, then those bacteria multiply and speed up the process of spoiling.

[@JRoss-zxzx]

cooking may kill the bacteria but the toxins that bacteria create it s a different story

[@Vegan_Ape_2018]

Very contradictory statement.

[@joostine3720]

@@Vegan_Ape_2018 no it isn’t

[@1224chrisng]

tldr: eat it now, not later

[@ramon7741]

@@Vegan_Ape_2018 very weak comprehension

[@noelhutchins7366]

Shower caps fit any size dish, super-stretchy, cover a turkey, pie, casserole or a punch-bowl, keep flies off food without a lid.

[@debbiehenri345]

An excellent suggestion. Not only do they do the job, they're easy to clean and can be packed away into a smaller space than normal food covers.

[@bjs301]

As a little kid I was at a picnic when a fly landed on my uncle's food. Somebody pointed it out, and he waved it away, commenting, "It didn't eat much". He finished his meal, and I never forgot it.

[@Liquoricilicious]

Damn that’s funny

[@davestylehenry]

He died 46 years later

[@troyclayton]

Unlike the old joke about a someone, someone, and a Scotsman who all have a fly land in their beer. The first expresses disgust, the second doesn't care, but the Scotsman grabs the fly and yells "Spit it out!"

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@troyclayton An Englishman and an Irishman probably.

[@ytsux9259]

@@troyclayton Funny. 🤣

[@greenbeancasserole6646]

I love Michael so much. His voice is so smooth and he makes facts come alive with his subtle reactions.

[@Aurelleah]

I concur completely. Him and hank green are my favorites.

[@hjmclark]

As the mother of a longhaired teen boy, I want a better view of how he styled his hair in this video.

[@potatocow3305]

@@Aurelleah +

[@waitselljones8068]

It's funny... I was actually thinking that I disagree. Not that he's particularly bad or anything, but his cadence in the way he speaks is so closely modeled to Hank's that it's quite distracting.

[@nice3333333333]

You are sexist and need to check your privilege

[@rin_okami]

Who the hell has the kind of money to be tossing out whole meals because a single fly landed on it? I have stomach acid and an immune system, I think I'll live.

[@KTheStruggler]

Yeah, even if I'm suspicious about what else the fly has touched I usually just scoop a little bit where the fly actually was.

[@Xegethra]

I don't think anyone's throwing whole meals away. Just tossing away something it landed on.

[@wilsonweiseng6485]

if only the human species all evoled stomach as strong as you, stomach strong enough that the health department is no longer needed

[@RosheenQuynh]

You know they land on feces and vomit right? 🤨

[@Nylak-Otter]

@@wilsonweiseng6485 I literally take medication to drastically suppress my immune system (so my body doesn't reject my transplanted organ), and I work and eat outside at farms and other animal care facilities, and have never gotten even remotely ill from decades of fly exposure. I know it's just anecdotal evidence, but I'm not at all concerned about a hypothetical risk which has no evidence to support its supposed dangers.

[@AlejandroMeri]

2:48 "Not much evidence of illness resulting from flies" That's actually what I was wondering the entire video. I always thought that, yes, flies on the food are gross but as long as you don't eat the fly itself you probably can't get sick with the small quantity of whatever bacteria the fly had on their feet.

[@GuardianTiger]

I'd rather just take the tiny piece where the fly landed on off my plate.

[@reeyees50]

Even if you eat it, nothing will happen to you. Its a normal fly not the tsetse fly of africa

[@slendydie1267]

You can eat multiple flies and nothing will happen

[@abnorman541]

It's ridiculous to be honest. Bacterias are freaking everywhere. It's not what bad bacteria is in the food before you eat, it's how much and for how long. A fly or two landing on your food is nothing. The amount of bacteria that would get on it from a few flies is inconsequential This video is ridiculous and will probably make people waste their food because a fly got on it.

[@lazar2949]

flies are normal in many parts of the world and im pretty sure our bodies evolved well enough not to die just because few flies landed on our food, our bodies can fight off most of that contamination most of the time but its still disgusting and should be avoided, especially around meat

[@debbiehenri345]

I live right next door to a cattle/sheep farm, and flies are plentiful around here. However, my own garden is a young but still productive permaculture project. For 18 years now, I've been picking fruit and eating a little of it on the spot. I know there's every potential for flies to have walked on it before I got there, but I haven't had any serious illnesses yet. Normally, I cook the rest of the fruit into jams, jellies, fruit pies - so that much isn't an issue. However, I still keep some aside as fresh for breakfast and, other than a cursory wash, it's pretty much as it was.

[@SadisticSenpai61]

It probably also has a lot to do with your own immune system as well. The average immune system can tolerate the small amount of bacteria transported by fly feet (assuming it wasn't just left in the open with a ton of flies crawling all over it). However, an immune compromised person's immune system might struggle to fight off the bacteria. So yeah. It depends.

[@andrewbloom7694]

Yeah I have RA and I always make other people switch with me if there's a lot of bugs. One or 2 I don't worry about but if it's been there for a few minutes....

[@SioxerNikita]

Well, it always depends... Humans can also walk... Unless they don't have legs. Not a particularly useful way to look at things when covering overall topics.

[@CanItAlready]

@Ice Melts Away Rheumatoid Arthritis, an autoimmune disease.

[@kellenfurter]

@Ice Melts Away rheumatoid arthritis

[@UKinQ8Gaming]

Glad to know you can tolerate dead animal and feces. Proud of you! You should just live in a civilized country where people dont sh1t in the street and dump dead animals on the street corner.

[@greggschwabauer6241]

I had read that during the battle for North Africa in WWII the British army had stricter sanitation regulations then Germans. The result was a much higher occurrence of food poisoning in Rommel’s forces then Montgomery’s. The culprit were the flys that would move between the open German latrines and the mess areas. The British had those two facilities separated by longer distances and kept “things” covered. Something they learned the hard way earlier in their Empire years.

[@SAmaryllis]

I learned a distressing amount about flies' eating habits today 😂 Thank you for making this, I've always wondered about fly/picnic safety lol

[@sophiejune4515]

But how many people would be able to make the connection between a fly on their food and feeling sick? I think in a picnic or bbq situation I'd assume the food was the cause and not think about the flies. Especially with bbq I think most people would assume the food was undercooked.

[@bleh329]

I think u would notice if someone handed u a steak and found it covered in flies moments later.

[@melancholicegg1000]

@@bleh329 Yeah if it were covered, but in the video he said just a single fly landing on food for a short duration can contaminate it So if just a single fly landed on your food for a moment, you’re probably not going to link feeling ill the next day to that fly

[@thewinterasp]

This is a good observation. There probably isn't much data that refers to the vector and food as there is that simply refer to the food. I do have to wonder though, how much contamination is too much. Gross as it is, the momentary landing of a fly prior to the act of eating won't leave bacteria on the flies feet much time to replicate before its dunked in stomach acid. With how common flies are in outdoor or open eating, I'd expect there would be lots and lots of cases of food poisoning if just landing were significant. Enough that there would be data on flies as vectors.

[@dxublexxsplicitxxsplicit4943]

@@bleh329 you obviously didn't watch the video

[@bleh329]

@@dxublexxsplicitxxsplicit4943 U would make for a terrible detective. Sorry u had to find out this way.

[@TheVantie]

Food safety and quality Engineering student here: For your own sake, food that you bring in picnics, bread etc is perfectly fine to eat, despite flies landing on it. However as always, there are exceptions! 1. If you have a lowered immune system, you should be careful, that is a given. 2. If the flies comes from an area, where there is known Listeria monocytogenes or novo virus, you should avoid eating waterholding food (watermelon, milk, bitten fruit etc) if you’re an older person. If you’re Young, go nuts.

[@iprobablyforgotsomething]

So, regarding point #2, interrogate the fly as to its hometown origin before deciding whether or not to toss the potentially contaminated food, eh? ; )p

[@ambulocetusnatans]

@@iprobablyforgotsomething How far do you think a fly can go, and what do you think he meant by the word "area"?

[@jamesmnguyen]

If a restaurant has flies hanging around the kitchen, that usually also means their trash is nearby, or not covered. The restaurant I work at keeps all (Full) trash sealed and disposes of bags into a larger dumpster farther away. As a result, I rarely see flies.

[@AlishN7]

I recently ordered something from a nearby restaurant, and when I opened the box (it was a pizza) there was a live fly inside. It was happily munching on some pepperoni and cheese. I was very much disgusted, but not just because of the fly, but because if there is a live fly in my food, what does it say about facilities food was prepared in? Or the care the staff takes while preparing it? I didn't eat that pizza.

[@Corpsman01]

Bummer, waste of a good pizza! I don’t blame you!

[@cyprsz]

you cant control every fly in a food place, chill out

[@damagecontrol7]

at least you can control the honest reviews you post about them later :) 1 star for them!!

[@uhohhotdog]

@Yummy Spaghetti Noodles No they don’t. We don’t spray anything here. We just let the flies go

[@Stevenisbelieven]

Did the restaurant replace all the pizza that the fly ate? 😉

[@abrahamtay5943]

I been going through a break up and these days I just got back watching KZbin and just wanted to say thank you for this channel because I normally just put these on and funny enough helps really well to keep engaged in work and when I'm playing games

[@eweb934]

Imagine going to a restaurant just to throw up on your plate before you eat it. 😐

[@Totalinternalreflection]

I've thrown up on my plate in a restaurant, I stopped short of eating it after though.

[@salty3069]

I did it after I ate it lol 😂

[@CeeJMantis]

Wait... you mean that's NOT normal? Is that why everyone stares at me and asks me if I'm okay‽

[@arniedee7251]

Uhm, excuse me?! Who are you to judge?? I will let you know I identify as a house fly and regurgitating, or throwing up as you disrespectfully call it, is just a part of our culture.

[@Buffalosabskis]

Haha I have a very “picky” stomach and really do not like much food. Most of the time going to fancy restaurants I’m like wet blanket guy like “oooooh um yeah I’m okay”. Thinking about flies and what they land on.... It is pretty gross, but I also bite my fingernails. So I am all over the place.

[@jonathanseibert8832]

4 minutes later? "Sometimes/maybe". Thanks so scishow.. what would we do without you

[@juniorlks1]

I had a neighbor who died because of extreme careless behaviour towards flies. He was a construction worker and always took with him to work a thermos with coffee and a little mug. The thing is: he NEVER washed that mug. He would drink his coffee and let it seat around anywhere until he wanted another shot. He started feeling really sick, went to the hospital and never came back. They said he had some sort of fly related bacteria infection and his co-workers soon accused his little filthy mug.

[@dgw4049]

I didn’t think I could hate flies any more than I do, but this video somehow made it possible

[@Cora.T]

You know, with how little people actually wash their hands post bathroom break, or how little know how to close the lid of the toilet prior flushing you've probably got more feces on your hands and thus transferred to your food and consumed that flies would. Generally speaking your stomach acid and immune system will have little issues dealing with such a small quantity of pathogens. I wouldn't worry to much about flies being a hazard, though of course it's an unappealing scene and I would definitely recommend covering your food. But it's more important to get people to wash their hands, close the lid prior to flushing and get public restrooms toilets to also have a lid

[@iCarus_A]

imo since public restrooms become exponentially harder to clean with a lid, it might not really be worth it to have one installed

[@Cora.T]

@@iCarus_A they do become harder, but considering flushing without a lid causes plumes ( that can reach up to 3 m ) every inch of a stall is covered in piss and feces. So technically speaking they should clean the whole stall, and I'm pretty sure that is rarely done if ever at all.

[@NPClownumber81googolplex]

But the plume will still go on the lid and seat which you will touch.

[@Cora.T]

@@NPClownumber81googolplex yes, but you can at least avoid having your hands touch the lid by using a piece of toilet paper, and most public restrooms over wetwipes or sanitary gel to clean the seat with

[@NPClownumber81googolplex]

@@Cora.T you still have to touch your butt to wipe which has touched the seat, unless you use a crazy technique. And idk if I want to wet wipe the seat every time...

[@Diabolic_]

What about flies laying eggs inside food they kand on, especially meat? This is a genuine concern, since I once saw how seemingly alright meat was being devoured by worms the next morning *shudder*

[@aste4949]

If the meat or food is cooked well afterwards any eggs and maggots will be very dead. Your stomach acid will also usually make short work of the majority of insect eggs and larva. Maggots don't stand a good chance either, they don't have the adaptations needed to survive stomach acid like parasitic worms do. Keep in mind humans survived and thrived eating everything they could, even if food had some bugs, larva, or bug eggs in it. The stomach's hydrochloric acid is no joke for insects and bacteria! So, probably not something to worry heavily over. Keep flies away, cover food, and I personally go for the "remove the parts of food flies landed on" tactic while eating outside.

[@alicev5496]

Extra protein! I doubt such eggs dont get digested if the meat does

[@ytsux9259]

Not worms; but maggots. There's a difference.

[@slendydie1267]

People actually specifically eat maggots in some places so it really makes no difference. People ain't that fragile

[@lucki_iscool317]

@@slendydie1267 gotta be careful cuz u gotta actually chew the maggots otherwise u can get infected

[@EvolMe]

Tough question: what if we eat a fly like by mistake should we be alarmed ...oh yeah before I forget, I'm asking... For a friend

[@JatPhenshllem]

I'm wondering too... for my girlfriend, of course

[@livewiiiiire]

Then you'll need to eat a spider, to catch the fly

[@LordDragox412]

You have a chance of getting food poisoning or parasites. Not a high one, and you'll probably vomit the fly out if you have realized you ate it which will reduce the chances of getting sick, but still, it's a dice roll. It's just that you'd have to roll nat 1 to get the short end of the stick.

[@EvolMe]

@@LordDragox412 rolling a nat 1 on a d4 with disadvantage

[@YoungGandalf2325]

While watching this vid I just imagined having a picnic with Jeff Goldblum as The Fly.

[@GrouchyGander]

Spoil? No. Gives me someone to talk to. And even if they landed on my food, I could just break off the part they touched and let them have it. I'm okay with sharing.

[@0deepak]

Bzzzz bzzz bzzz🪰 (thank you, I am a homeless fly and I am grateful for the food)

[@AshChiCupcak]

@@0deepak This is strangely wholesome

[@GrouchyGander]

@@0deepak Anytime, my dude!

[@NomadUniverse]

"He wont eat much" is usually my response to a fly on my food.

[@NPClownumber81googolplex]

But he'll vomit half-digested dog poo on it for flavor.

[@iprobablyforgotsomething]

Nope, but s/he'll infect much as a thank-you for the free meal, and perhaps lay some eggs as a literal added bonus!

[@NomadUniverse]

@@iprobablyforgotsomething assuming its a female that lands. And there's no activity that will disturb it to give it enough time. You take in far more bacteria from other sources throughout the day that what a house fly can leave on your food for the few seconds its there. And if you're leaving food unattended long enough for a fly to lay eggs, then continuing consumption of that food, you might have bigger problems.

[@opalumbre]

I always take a healthy chunk out of the food around where the fly was and discard that part

[@Iconoclasher]

In the movie, The Fly (1986), Jeff Goldblum made it quite clear (with practical demonstrations), on how the fly pukes and eats. It was also quite apparent they're very disrespectful of humans.

[@ophelia.artaud]

I was thinking of the scene where he pukes acid on the guy's face 🪰

[@sonqasawa2622]

No thanks! When as a child I was warned, well told to throw away food on which flies had landed, I felt it was another silly adult rule. Well as a young boy, once I started noticing flies landing on dog, horse, pig and cow faeces, and all kinds of dung, as well as vomit, I took that warning to heart. Although I no longer live in the tropics, and now an adult, I still have a zero tolerance to houseflies, especially around food.

[@thespecialduck5030]

thats y ur immune system is weak

[@Joe-xp6un]

@@thespecialduck5030 you WILL eat the feces!

[@thespecialduck5030]

@Mufynette sorry i wasn’t raised in an environment where we could afford to throw away food like that. also it’s factually true that you wont get affected at all. look it up bozo

[@debbiehenri345]

Look up the Mythbusters episode on cleanliness of toothbrushes in bathrooms - I think it's going to really shock you about how widespread faecal matter is. No matter what precautions the team took with their toothbrushes, they discovered that faecal matter of all types are in the air. It's in your every breath, on every surface in your home. As soon as you dry up a plate, tiny bits of faecal matter begin to stick to it again before you put it in the cupboard, especially if you keep pets inside your house and if you have children running in and out of doors.

[@NPClownumber81googolplex]

@@debbiehenri345 guess I'll just burn myself alive thanks.

[@guilessa]

As a germophobe, I hesitated for a long time before watching the video.

[@guilessa]

Update: deciding to watch wasn't a good idea.

[@RedwihteGame]

Uploaded 7 minutes ago. A good amount of consideration.

[@lo0ksik]

imagine all the flys that you didnt saw that was over the food you ate all your life, also the amount of them grounded in prcessing some foods (its inevitable), also the ones that landed on your hand or mouth when sleeping

[@LordDragox412]

@@lo0ksik So? There is a difference between processed food and a fly landing on something you'll consume. Do you know why you get sick when you drink water from a pond, but won't get sick if you boil it? A fly landing on someone's hand doesn't matter much, and if it lands in their mouth because for some reason it's suicidal, that's also not that big of a deal - it only increases the risk of them getting a dose of germs that may or may not cause them to get food poisoning. It doesn't spell their doom. Like, where even is your logic?

[@rubenruiz8409]

I almost swallowed a fly once when I was a kid while eating a rum and raisin ice cream. I noticed one of the raisins didn't feel quite right and spit it out, lol. I finished the ice cream, and don't remember getting sick.

[@Stevenisbelieven]

Hearing you mention "swallowed a fly.." instantly reminded me of that Nursery Rhyme that goes, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly I don’t know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she’ll die!"😱 Hearing this poem at 5 years of age, put the fear of swallowing a fly in me that never went away. 😂

[@melancholicegg1000]

You’ve ruined rum and raisin ice cream for me How dare you

[@JuaniAlva]

I once swallowed a fly that entered in my mouth just as I was inhaling, it left a disgusting taste in my mouth but nothing happened to me

[@remainprofane7732]

Well it’s probably because of the spider they made you swallow to eat the fly. I don’t why you swallowed that fly.

[@ivmawho]

Accidentally swallowing a fly is common in some places, even some Buddhist monks are mindful not to leave their mouths open so as not to kill a fly

[@YeenMage]

Try removing only the part of the food where the flies landed. And eat the rest

[@Xegethra]

Yeah I was always told to eat around it. Largely that's what I do.

[@dacksonflux]

That's what I do. It honestly seems like a given.

[@walterpayton2120]

The problem is when they land on something with liquid like a soup, would you just remove the spoon of soup 🥣 where it took a dive?

[@XY2Moroccoball]

@@walterpayton2120 this reminds me of when I accidentally put washing powder in eggs instead of salt and had to throw the whole thing away

[@jballoregon]

This is like information I wish I wouldn't have got smart on...now I feel like picnic's are doomed.

[@JatPhenshllem]

:)

[@thespecialduck5030]

ur one google search away from understanding that u wont get sick and that in reality there’s little to no chance youd be affected at all

[@Nonunusmultorum]

Then you clearly did not get "smart" on it....

[@debbiehenri345]

Cover the food with cloths if this is making you queasy; but bear in mind, if you've been on picnics while flies have landed on your food, and you've survived up until now - good chance you're going to be okay if it happens again in the future.

[@abnorman541]

Use your common sense. He said "there's not much evidence of illness resulting from flies", that's because there isn't. Unless flies are swarming your food, which you would then know better than to eat it, it's practically harmless (unless you don't have an immune system). Your body was made to fight bacteria. Getting your body to fight off bacteria from a few flies eating your food is like getting Tiger Woods to make a 1-inch golf putt.

[@SmittenKitten.]

Weirdly, just yesterday I was talking to someone about how fun picnics seem in theory, but how awful they tend to be in reality due to bugs of all varieties.

[@jamesdagmond]

As long as you keep the food covered and make sure there's no ant nests nearby you'll be fine. Never had insects become a major issue during a picnic and I've had many.

[@roscosanchez4649]

Like 99% of bugs are edible.

[@SmittenKitten.]

@@jamesdagmond I get eaten alive by mosquitos and living in the desert, I've had giant huntsman spiders crawl up onto the blanket (among other weird insects), which scare me to death. I know they don't wish me harm, but they're pretty unnerving when trying to eat some sandwiches. There's been a huge uptick in scorpions in the area, too, which make picnics more of a nightmare than a daydream.

[@SmittenKitten.]

@@roscosanchez4649 True, but if I didn't prepare my food with bugs in them, I don't have any interest in knowingly eating them.

[@NickoGibson]

@@roscosanchez4649 Well I wouldn't eat a stomach full of bugs on a daily basis. Or ever. Not uncooked at least. I once ate a cricket and it just tasted like grass or wheat. I guess you could make a salad out of it with a lot of dressing. There just isn't a lot of meat in the bugs unless you get a bunch of them. But then it's like genocide.

[@serfraust]

What I learned today is that people are extremely wasteful. Just pinch off the bit the fly was on and don't leave your food alone around flies.

[@user-Aaron-]

Pinch it off, like a turd.

[@hairytick7882]

If it lands on pizza I'll pick off the spot it landed on and and keep eating, I once flossed with a stranger's hair by accident because it was baked into the pizza, and finished the whole thing. the point is... I don't like wasting pizza.

[@valevisa8429]

I grew up in a village where flies were all over the food in everyone's house.It was very normal.I'm 65 and never was sick in my life.

[@kellydalstok8900]

Too much hygiene can be bad for your health. Look at all the allergies children have these days. Apparently children that grow up on a farm are far less likely to develop an allergy.

[@Nylak-Otter]

I work in pretty much the same conditions, where I also eat over half my meals. I've never had a problem with it, and unless I'm about to eat a few dozen of the flies themselves raw and wriggling, it doesn't bother me, either. I don't let them in my house because I have the ability to control that, but I don't understand why it has such a stigma when eating outside. There are *living things* outside, you know.

[@Ariranhaa]

It takes A LOT more than a fly's touch to make me not eat something...

[@AnimilesYT]

I think the environmental impact from food waste would be more of a health hazard than the flies itself

[@MeepMeep88]

I group this threat with storing your toothbrush in the open, in the same room people take a crap in and flush it so crap particles land on your toothbrush LOL

[@theunholyadventurer2376]

that's why u flush with the lid down, it blocks all of that from flying everywhere

[@Margar02]

I keep my toothbrush in the cabinet

[@tristanmorris5646]

@@Margar02 Didn't mythbusters do an episode on this? I forget what the result was

[@XY2Moroccoball]

I keep my toothbrush in my room

[@graphosxp]

Jeff Goldblum taught me the fly regurgitation thing way back in 1986.

[@megarural3000]

An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman walk into a pub and order a pint of beer each. Right after they’ve been served, three flies come and each of them land in one of the glasses. The Englishman looks disgusted, pushes his beer aside and calls for another one. The Scotsman doesn’t look too pleased either, but he takes out the fly and takes a big sip of beer. The Irishman looks most irritated of all, reaches into his glass, pinches the fly in between two fingers while yelling: “spit it out, you bastard, spit it out!”

[@troyclayton]

Cool video. What we do know is that it takes time for bacteria to multiply to levels that are dangerous when eaten. So, don't worry about flies (unless obvious problem- each person needs to learn when to draw the line) if you're going to eat it in the next 30 minutes or so. Don't stir cream dips flies are landing on, then eat it later. Just saying. Acidic foods, and those with hot peppers, are better protected from casual bacterial infection. Mycologists regularly use a V8* mix of agar in petri dishes to slow bacterial growth while isolating fungi. This is easier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than antibiotics for most general work. edit:* Actual V8 juice used in making the medium.

[@Boo-pv4hn]

This is why fly tape is my hero! Wasps and bees also like to eat poo, there always buzzing around it! But people just think of flies with it 😅

[@jimmym3352]

I use the 5 second rule here. :) Although to be honest it's more like a 1 second rule with flies.

[@Rastamanas]

It's actually 0 second rule when you think about it...

[@thespecialduck5030]

flies literally will not harm you if they land on your food.

[@catherineharris4746]

@@thespecialduck5030 😷

[@thespecialduck5030]

@@catherineharris4746 ur immune system is weak do one second of research and you’ll see they pose no threat

[@LordDragox412]

@@thespecialduck5030 You might want to re-read the definition of the world "literally".

[@Casanuda]

I was having soup in Tel Aviv and found a fly in my soup. I told the waiter and he told me that'll be an extra five sheckles.

[@ooooneeee]

😂😂😂

[@nishbrown]

Just like ants, they don't eat much. There's plenty to go around.

[@drtyboy]

So in other words, if you're eating and a fly lands on your food, shoo it away and continue eating. If you put your food down and leave it and come back to find several flies that may have been on it for a few minutes, you might just wanna chuck it out(not because you might get sick, more so because it's just gross).

[@ISEGaming]

Just assert your dominance on the fly by throwing up on your food before they do!

[@missuncool7589]

Fly : mmm gravy

[@iwannaseenow1]

I made pork ribs, but left the second rack out, mostly covered in a plastic bag. i forgot about it for two hours. When I saw it, i saw a fly, which had gotten in earlier in the day (suburb) buzzing around it. The meat was still cool to the touch (through two plastic bags). Not sure if there was a space for the fly to access it. Should I throw it out? Worried the fly laid eggs and there will be maggots (not sure how long it takes for them to appear). What are the chances, right? I threw it in the freezer.

[@ofskittlez]

I have to assume there's a significant difference between "infested with flies" and "a single fly landed on it for one second".

[@MyFatherIsTryingToKillMe]

Remember that part of the THE Fly movie with Jeff Goldberg? Sweet movie 🍿🎥

[@dw6nvf]

I was hoping to be surprised, but the results are exactly what most people would expect.

[@coryart]

Three kinds of people... 1) "Waitress bring me a new soup there is a fly in this one." 2) "There's a fly in my soup, I'll just take that out". 3) Hey fly! Spit that out! That's my soup!"

[@drtrowb]

That sandwich looked damn good!

[@firestorm8265]

Whenever a fly lands on a piece of food I was going to eat, I just eat the fly with it too. I just got too lazy to remove them.

[@jaydenlopez8165]

Glad I watched this while eating dinner

[@briattnybrittany6843]

I've always wondered this... On a side note, flies are super creepy up close 🥴

[@riaz8783]

Yeah, watching this while eating lunch wasn't the best idea I've ever had.

[@mariampatsiou2732]

same 😑😑😑

[@ScottMartinez]

Thanks for this. Can you do what happens if you eat some moldy cheese or bread? Does it just taste bad, or can it cause you harm?

[@massimookissed1023]

Here ya go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXi8datugdyjiMk SciShow from 3 years ago.

[@ScottMartinez]

@@massimookissed1023 Thank you!

[@massimookissed1023]

@@ScottMartinez I remembered that episode yesterday when I had to remove a moldy bit off a slice of bread. Today the rest of the loaf is covered in blue spots, so I bought a new one.

[@davidrenton]

it's the poopy feet that always got me, talking about the flies not mine

[@AdeleiTeillana]

Yeah, this is why I hate eating outdoors (well, this, mosquitoes, gnats, ants and the heat.) When I was a kid, I didn't know about stuff like this so I had no problem with picnics. But when I learned... I could never go back, lol.

[@ooooneeee]

You forgot ticks 😱

[@vaszgul736]

When I was a child my dad told me not to let the ants crawl on my food and I asked him why. He said because he put down poison for the ants and they're gonna track it onto our food. So I told him just don't put poison down then and he was speechless.

[@ambulocetusnatans]

I'm an exterminator. The ants wouldn't have enough poison on their feet to do anything, and modern pesticides are much safer than the stuff we used 20 years ago.

[@TheBodiesInTheWaterBeckons]

Never get sick from flies in my 29 years of life. Despite eating foods that flies landed on.

[@yourmommashouse]

Why does he look like a WWE wrestler now?

[@johnnyj540]

That's why we have an immune system.

[@Swishy_Blue]

Many cultures use lovely, stable, simple net cloches to cover food.

[@kellydalstok8900]

I do too. It has a cute lace trim as well.

[@Lislio]

1:18 that yum lmao

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

Yup I'm throwing away the whole section of whatever it landed on, if there are multiple, the whole thing.

[@ms9001]

regardless if they vomit on my food, flies often land on poop and other disgusting things. if a fly touches my food, it's going to the garbage.

[@eliwhitley1878]

Omg 10 trees for a hundred people, your generosity is overwhelming!

[@danspencer9499]

Did you know that flies differ around the world? Houseflies in California are relatively slow and easy to swat. In the Andes mountains in Colombia, there are very few flies at all. Too lazy to fly up the mountains?

[@GaussianEntity]

It's probably the air pressure difference making it harder for them to survive

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@GaussianEntity lower oxygen level

[@Don2006]

I remember dining at a beach restaurant in Florianópolis, and the food kept on the warmer behind glass had tons of flies buzzing around. I had endless diarrhea for about 24 hours after that.

[@UnsaltedCashew38]

Does the same apply to fruit flies? I had a few on my salad yesterday and I washed it and ate it.

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

All that and you don't mention lucila cuprina? Kinda a bit of a fail there. For those wondering, these lovely flies will specifically target raw or cooked meats and, moments after landing, lay their eggs on it. Their maggots hatch very rapidly.

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

@@dieZauberfloete Yeah, but the fact they lay their eggs so fast and their maggots hatch in only a few minutes is a major disruption to a picnic.

[@godamid4889]

They do in Australia! Seriously - you cannot have a picnic in summer without sharing some with the flies.

[@_mortiam]

"Be careful where you picnic" - I mean, poop is basically everywhere. From all kinds of animals in the countryside or from dogs in the cities.

[@drvidushibeniwal874]

We: eww a fly on my sandwich Cows: u kidding, we live with them

[@stax6092]

I'd much rather be safe than Sorry, Especially as a learned Chef I despise flies as the reason they are usually around is due to being let in from somewhere that had Fecal Matter. The dogs poop in the back yard, the poop of other animals at the beach or by a creek. Why risk the danger when not only do you not have to but when you're in a place with readily available food so you can get more pretty easily. However, it's always a good idea to cover up your food and refrigerate or freeze leftovers if you can.

[@gropatapouf5998]

I absolutely love the "in-between" answers... :(

[@mojosbigsticks]

My pen-pal built a beautiful new country house, without realising it was just over the hill from a pig farm. Summers were awful.

[@bernhardjordan9200]

To understand how flys eat, just watch the movie the fly

[@give_anna_an_alt1744]

Is it just me or did that sandwich actually look really good

[@dangates5095]

As mentioned by Marti R below time is an important factor. It takes some time for germs to reproduce to a large number.

[@hidaniel1757]

I prepared my breakfast to watch this video while eating, but I did not prepare myself to watch it while eating.

[@talkofchrist]

I had no idea this was such a controversial topic. People seem to believe whatever they were taught by the adults in their lives. Either they were taught to throw away anything a fly touches (and so they are now utterly disgusted by food touched by a fly), or they were taught to throw out the part of the food touched by the fly, or they were taught that flies don't hurt anything (and so they have absolutely no problem downing food previously touched by flies). I didn't even know that people were taught differently about flies than I was taught! @SciShow... I would love some information about whether these teachings are cultural, ethnic, or country specific, or whether they are connected to income levels and poverty. And I would like to know the real scientific answer to whether I should eat the food, throw it out, or throw out a part. This video didn't answer the question, and instead churned up a group of disparate comments.

[@mastershooter64]

memes, the dna of the soul

[@NPClownumber81googolplex]

Which one were you taught tho? I'd say if you're rich you give the food to a dog or tree or something, if you're poor you eat it anyways, and if you're in the middle just eat around where the fly touched.

[@ooooneeee]

SciShow can't give us answers science hasn't found yet. There is simply a lack of real world studies outside of artificial lab conditions. It's probably not cheap to do such a study and very hard to get funding.

[@talkofchrist]

@@ooooneeee If SciShow is going to talk about things science doesn't have answers for ("Do flies totally spoil your picnic lunch? We don't know!"), then it's probably fair to ask them to give us the answers promised by the video title.

[@cat_city2009]

This guy is a big boy now. Good for him.

[@Marta1Buck]

We bought (raw) catfish days ago, we didn't close the container tight enough so these massive greenish flies lay eggs on them. Maybe cooking them will make it safe to eat, but those eggs aren't exactly appetizing. So we give them to feral cats.

[@CaptainKirk01]

We have an immune system for a reason. Plus the acid in our stomachs kill amost everything. In addition, the fly leaves such a small amount behind, and as long as it dosnt sit around to colonize, the bacteria is mostly harmless. Don't let it bother you.

[@LordDragox412]

Enjoy getting food poisoning from the norovirus. Immune system doesn't protect you from everything, and stomach acid doesn't kill everything. You are right that the chances of getting food poisoning from a fly landing on your food are very low. Still, it's not impossible. But you'd have to be unlucky or have weakened immune system to get the shits. Remember, if our immune systems were so great, Covid wouldn't be such a big deal.

[@bleh329]

Yeah, people never get sick from ingesting things! 👌

[@bobthegoat7090]

Thanks SciShow for saying it is safe but making me so disgusted that I am not going to eat it anyways.

[@diorynovis]

Having several fly swatters always within easy reach, i'm more of a threat to a fly than a fly is a threat to me.

[@Renisanxious]

I work at a small farm market, and we have a bakery area that flies absolutely love. Although all of us workers know that a fly in the bakery case is not a big deal considering, it's really bad for business 😔 house flies are the bane of my existence

[@mayfly4000]

Here me out.... That sandwich is amazing

[@qqqsfdf1232]

Bacterial or viral load is the amount of pathogen involved. Your body can cope with a small load better than a large load. Lots of flies on your food for a long time will leave more germs, leading to a higher bacterial load and greater risk of some bacteria overpowering your immune system.

[@chrissandoval7675]

i've found food umbrellas quite handy.

[@ThePurpleKnightmare]

How are you going to have bird love, for a pheasant you've never heard of?

[@DH-nu5oc]

I'm not giving up a perfectly good sandwich due to a fly or two. But a swarm of flies landing on my sandwich for an extended period of time, I would toss the sandwich.

[@JB-no1hy]

You will eat bugs, you will own nothing, you WILL be happy

[@Twitter_Posts]

I’ve seen a few loaves of bread with flies trapped in them trying to get out at Kroger/Walmart. You could see them through the plastic. Really gross