Washing Cans Before You Drink from Them

My exhusband worked for CocaCola in the canning factory. The cans were scalded, dried, filled, lids sealed on, boxed, put on pallets and plastic wrapped all in just a couple of minutes without stopping. Once they are wrapped in plastic, they may sit for a day or two waiting to be put on a truck. If you find one that looks dirty wipe it off, but I tend to think that in general there woulnd't be anything worse that the stuff we encounter on a regular basis on it.
Looks okay, is okay. If it looks like it has dried yellow liquid on it and it's not Mt. Dew, wash it! (Although I see no reason a rat would want to be on it unless its not sealed) ;)

I've never done this either. I'm in the camp of not being germaphobe, believing that a little bacteria around helps keep the immune system stronger. I'm clean and practice food safety, but I don't disinfect .... and don't wash cans. We tend to be healthy, FE I get the flu about once every 10 years so I'm not going to start washing cans.

Yeah--they sit around in dirty, dingy, dusty warehouses and trucks for months at a time with mice and rats and spiders crawling all over the pallets--or at least that's the theory! So then rinsing it off is probably not doing much, is it? ;-)

If it looks dusty I will wipe it, but that is it.

I rinse mine off. They're so gross and dirty. You don't know who or what has come into contact with that can.

Why don't you tell FIL to wash them all when they come into the house instead of snatching them out of your hand?(Rude.) What if he's not around sometime and you actually get one to your mouth? Sounds like he's the one with the problem, not you.

I have always done this, so it doesn't seem strange at all. I also rinse tops of cans before opening them with a can opener. Just a matter of hygiene, when you think of the fact that the cans have been sitting out on shelves and could be, at the very least, dusty. We actually had a discussion about this at my Weight Watchers meeting one day, and the general consensus was that most people in the group are "rinsers". Just so you know, your FIL is not alone!

I don't wash my cans... but I do wipe off the top. My mom did it and for some reason I do it too. hehe! It is just a thing I do without thinking about it. Now if I actually see something on the top I will wash it. I mean, anyone would.

I think it is good to wash off the cans....Cans have been sitting in wharehouses where unfortunately, bugs i.e. roaches and mice may have crawled all over it. Not to mention all the dirty hands placing them on the store shelves. :)

I wipe off the top of a soda or juice can and all canned foods just because there can be some dust on there. I have had times that I got a black or really dark gray line form wiping it off. Ugh. Even though the cans sit in a a box, they can get dusty.

Some people do the washing, but most people I know don't.
There was an urban legend going around a few years ago about rats peeing on cans in warehouses which freaked people out for awhile. If you check it out on Snopes, I think they said it was pretty much a non issue (false).

Absolutely!! What is walking on that can when it is in the warehouse, or who has even handled it in the stores. I always wash, or at least wipe off the mouth of any can I am going to put my mouth on. I have seen flats of cans with mouse poop on it!

Snopes - what was false was that people died from not cleaning it. There is a danger from exposure to rat urine, and there are still issues with vermin in warehouses, just not the deaths that were reported in those emails.

Sometimes. Especially if I bought them and a guest is about to drink one and I happen to know that they've been sitting in the garage layed on by the cat, licked by the dog, sloshed with carwashing water, sprayed with cleaners as I was washing the shelf next to it, or any one of any number of things. If I knew they were dirty and had been intending to get around to cleaning them off, and hadn't, absolutely would I wash them off.

I do it and have taught my children to do it. I guess the same thought of, would I drink straight from a cup that I just purchased? I actually think it is something that was a big habbit a generation ago when soda was sold more in "open 6 packs" than now when we buy it by the case. I guess old habbits are just hard to break and I will continue to do it; because washing is never a "bad" thing. I do hope you can see why an "open" set of cans could be an issue. Just think that little tab is going down into your acidic pop and soaking in you drink. So what ever is on that tab is going into your body. Does that make sense of where he is coming from? Just smile at him and maybe this too will become a habbit of yours.

I have never done that or seen anyone do that. Ask your fil, he may be paranoid of germs or maybe he had a nasty experience.

I do this not everytime but when I think about it, also with canned goods.Think about it they are stored in a warehouse where anything can come in contact with them many hands have touched them possibly many rodets have crossed them or bugs you can't see the harboring of germs or bacteria on them but it's good to do a wash off...

I have never done that, but have seen people that do.

Cans have some awful bacteria on them. You have no idea where the stockers hands were right before they put the cans on the shelf or whether that can has fallen on the floor several times, or if it has even been returned to the store from someones home who has mice or worse.

I never thought about it either but I read an article one time about a woman who drank a canned pop with her lunch and was dead by dinner time with some horrible illness that was on the can when they swabbed it. I even wash canned goods before opening them now.

I'm not a germaphobe, So I don't unless it's visibly dirty. Then I'll wipe it off. I can't be bothered. LOL I feel like the majority of people that are a germaphobe are the ones getting sick a lot.

My fiance is one of them. Always worrying about germs and he's the one that is always getting colds and whatnot.

Tehehe, I do this, too. I rinse off every can before I open it. I guess I read somewhere at some point when crates are stored in warehouses rats and such can be running over them (EEEWWWW). I tell my kids too to rinse off the can of soda or beefaroni before they open it.

Course, I probably wouldn't snatch the can out of your hands either.

:)

i wipe mine, then drink with a straw from the can. i have always done this, and so do my kids.
neurotic? perhaps :)