Study Finds Snow Contains Large Amounts of Bacteria
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PITTSBURGH — To the list of simple childhood pleasures whose safety has been questioned, add this: eating snow.
A recent study found that snow — even in relatively pristine spots like Montana and the Yukon — contains large amounts of bacteria.
Parents who warn their kids not to eat dirty snow (especially the yellow variety) are left wondering whether to stop them from tasting the new-fallen stuff, too, because of Pseudomonas syringae, bacteria that can cause diseases in bean and tomato plants.
But experts say there’s no need to banish snow-eating along with dodgeball, unchaperoned trick-or-treating, and riding a bike without a helmet.
“It’s a very ubiquitous bacteria that’s everywhere,” a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases, Dr. Penelope Dennehy, said. “Basically, none of the food we eat is sterile. We eat bacteria all the time.”
