As it turns out, the Stanley Cup isn’t the petri dish you may have imagined.
The trophy was swabbed for germs for the first time on Thursday during a stop at the Chicago Tribune newsroom, the newspaper reports.
According to tests, the trophy had little bacteria and no signs of staph, salmonella or E. coli contamination.
"It’s surprisingly clean," Nancy McDonald, manager of the Chicago lab EMSL Analytical, said.
Only 400 counts of general bacteria were found, a small number compared to the typical office desk, which has more than 10,000.
"I think that’s great," Philip Pritchard, keeper of the Cup and curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame, told the Tribune.
Precautions are taken to ensure the cleanliness of the Cup, Pritchard said. It’s washed with a soft detergent every day and it’s dismantled twice a year to be professionally cleaned.
When the cup is on tour, more than 5,000 people touch or kiss it a day, Pritchard said.
While some people don’t kiss it for fear of germs, Pritchard said that now, "we can reassure them they are going to be OK."
