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Airport security bins are dirtier than toilets, study shows

The dirtiest thing you’ll encounter at the airport isn’t the toilet seat. Nor is the tray tables or even your sniffling seat mate. According to a study from the University of Nottingham and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, it’s those plastic security trays that are the filled with the most infectious diseases. The research was published in BMC Infectious Diseases, which found 10 respiratory viruses including the flu and common cold lingering on various surfaces through the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland. Scientists visited several times during the 2015-16 flu season and collected germ samples at various times of the day. As it turns out, the bins that hold your cell phone, shoes, purse, coat, and other belongings that need scanned for security, had more germs than any other area tested — including toilet, elevator buttons, and even the flight check-in kiosks. The virus found could easily cause you…

T.S.A. starts checking snacks, holds up security lines

It used to be that solids foods were safe from the prying eyes of airport security. But TSA has stepped up its screening of carry-on snacks, meaning the security line is about get that much slower. According to The Daily Meal, TSA officers have been making passengers remove all snacks from their carry-on bags before walking sending them through screening. This means that lines are getting held up for that Clif Bar you forgot you tucked in your backpack side pocket, and that trail mix in your kid’s carry-on. Because many people aren’t aware of the new screening, they’re being sent back through security lines because of food they have forgotten about. The New York Times reports that this its not an official policy, but security can ask people to remove snacks if they think it’s necessary or if snack items look questionable on X-ray cameras. Snack scanning is supposed to actually speed up lines…