Dig licking plates before going into dishwasher - ick or not

We don’t need Kim and Aggie to do any swabs, @Tessiebear2023! It’s just a bit of drama for TV 🙄 Swab the rubber seal of the cleanest dishwasher, you will still grow a bunch of bacteria. I doubt the doggy dish lickers’ dishwashers will have any more nasties than any other dishwashers, even Kim or Aggie’s own dishwasher. I believe the most common pathogen in dishwashers comes from rice. Try washing your hands thoroughly and swabbing them to see what will grow 🤢

OP's entire dog ownership is User Error 😅

Then its User Error.

Not many guests hang around our bedroom waiting to eat off the cat-licked marmitey plate.
However I find cat food revolting, I can’t bear having to wash her plates so she is always fed from paper ones.

Yes but how many people follow proper controlled protocols ? And how many people buy a dishwasher on the basis of what temp it runs at ? It didn't even figure in my purchase of it.

I found it interesting on google that there are different standards for dishwashers (sad I know).

So you have residential, which requires one temperature, commercial, that requires another higher standard and I believe (not sure) there are hospital which requires even higher.

I understand why commercial and hospital might be higher, in hospitals for example the risk of giving someone contaminated food might kill them is higher.

But the very fact there are different standards implies there are different levels of cleanliness, with residential right at the bottom of the pile as you would probably expect and hospital right at the top.

The fact that residential is not hospital is telling you it is a lower standard. And introducing unnecessary and nasty bacteria from dogs into that lower standard doesn't seem like a sensible thing to do to me.

God no…not Kim and Aggie. Imagine all the dog sh*t particles they’d find in the dishwasher filter…unless it’s sterilised between dishwasher cycles 🤣🤣

This thread is hilarious and gets more and more ridiculous.

I wash my dog's bowls in the dishwasher or in the sink. Yes the same sink I wash mine and my DH's dishes in. I don't have a utility room and even if I did I would not be washing the dog bowls there.

I agree, but I'm wondering if it makes a difference that's she's doing it routinely?

I mean, the odd plate licked once in a while I'm sure is harmless. But if you're doing it everyday, surely there will be dog bacteria building up in places in the dishwasher, especially if you're not running a regular cleaning cycle?

We need kim and aggie to do some swabs!

That's fine - do you let her lick your guests' plates too? Even if you know they would find it yucky?

No dog here but a cat.
Every morning DH brings me a cup of tea to drink in bed.
A little later he brings me coffee and a pikelet, spread with butter and Marmite.
Some of the butter and Marmate soaks through into the plate. Our cat follows DH, comes onto the bed and licks the plate clean. A highlight of her day, and I enjoy it too.

Letting a dog lick plates before putting them in a high-temperature dishwasher is not inherently unhygienic from a microbiological standpoint, assuming proper dishwasher protocols are followed.

Yabu. Yuk and disgusting. Can't believe you allow the dog to do that. Scrap the left overs into the dog bowl.

Sorry…I missed that. My mistake x

For all the people fine with dogs licking their plates would you be ok with it if you know those dogs regularly eat dog and cat poo? My cousin had a young dog that does this. He’s working hard to try and stop it happening but the dog’s breath frequently smells shitty.

The thought of that dog’s tongue licking human cups plates and spoons makes me nauseous!

Even if they are washed surely this is crossing a basic taboo?

I know “not all dogs” and only a minority have this disgusting habit but I couldn’t take the risk I was a guest and my host let her dogs lick the plates!

This wouldn't bother me at all.

Absolutely disgusting, I’m with your DIL.

Yeah, was wrong and said so.

It’s a shame dishwashers only reach 65ish then isn’t it ;)

Dishwashers are not relying on just the heat of the water to kill bacteria though, most of us also use detergent.

Bacteria need something to live on, a dog licking a plate broadly removes that - then you put that plate into a dishwasher washing at over 65c, the spraying of the water, the heat and the detergent will remove the bacteria and kill it.

A dog-licked plate thats been through a dishwasher at over 65c, with suitable detergent is going to be much safer than a food encrusted plate that was not licked by a dog, but was washed by hand in a sink.

No, a dishwasher is not a steriliser but it will do a pretty good job, and realistically, the risk of becoming infected from stroking a dog or letting them lick you or picking up poo is far higher than from eating from a plate that a dog has licked that has then been washed in a dishwasher 🤷‍♀️

Bacteria need the right conditions to replicate, a food source, the right temperature, humidity etc They are going to go forth and multiply on a lovely moist piece of steak left at room temperature, not so much on a dry, clean plate that has been washed at a high temperature, especially if it has no food source. Actually, the infective dose for different bacteria varies eg (for things you might catch from a dog) it is about 10,000 for salmonella spp. but less than 50 for E. coli, although E.Coli can’t survive for more than a few hours on hard surfaces, if it survives the dishwasher. Hands are a far more hospitable environment for bacteria…

Dogs and humans have about the same number of different pathogens in their mouths. All of the pathogens in human mouths have evolved to infect humans. Only about 16% of those found in dog’s mouths can infect humans. If you are worried about your dishwasher not killing pathogens from dog plates, why aren’t you concerned about pathogens from humans? There are more of those that can make you unwell in human saliva despite not licking our own arses 🙄 What about pathogens from utensils used for raw food?

TBF it’s pretty grim to let your dog lick plates in front of guests.

Firstly, 90 C does not sterilise a plate. Plates might be clean after being in a dishwasher but they are definitely not sterile. I know that plates are clean when they come out of a dishwasher but I still find it a disgusting habit to let dogs lick them before washing.

That’s disgusting, I wouldn’t want to eat from a plate that a dog had previously used. I’d also question your general cleanliness when it came to food preparation 🤢 🤮

Temperatures are not typically high enough for complete sterilisation (source AI web summary)

Plus, if you put your washer on a lower heat cycle like economy then even more bacteria will survive.

Some dishwashers have higher temps than others.

So it's not just about "dishwashers" but about what cycle you use, what dishwasher type you use, and probably also about what detergent type you use.

It's basic manners to pretend not to be a complete slattern whilst in company 😂 (this is coming from a woman who secretly chews on apples with her rabbit)

Ok, fair enough.