Squeamish diners have long made spoon polishing a nervous ritual, and almost everywhere a dirty café is called a "greasy spoon." But an investigation of restaurant hygiene in Connecticut has shown that, of all dinnerware, the spoon is most to be trusted; it is the bar glass that is furthest from grace. In swab tests conducted in nearly 1,000 restaurants, investigators found high bacteria counts on bar glasses "almost commonplace." A count of 100 bacteria per utensil is thought to be a safe level; bar glasses regularly approached counts of 3,000. And spoons were almost uniformly clean.
"An average of 60% of...