Which Popular Christmas Gifts Contain the Most Germs?

Key Findings

• Used items are 4 times more likely to contain higher levels of bacteria than new, with board games and toys six times dirtier when used.
• Just six of the 25 (24%) used items we purchased are considered clean by international hygiene standards, with a germ level of 250 or lower.
• Items bought in thrift stores are the dirtiest of all we sampled, with an average germ level of 6,787. This was higher than used items bought on eBay (948) or Amazon (653).
• Buying new online seems to be the cleanest way to go, with a germ level of just 118 on items purchased over the internet. Despite also being new, items bought in stores measured over 7.5 times higher on bacterial analyses.

New vs Used - Which is Dirtier?

Shopper logic says that if you wanted a germ-free product, a fresh-out-of-the-box item from a retail store or from an online warehouse would be the way to go. Our research appears to back this theory up with the 25 new products we purchased for this test containing an average germ level of 480.

Note: The highest level of 'safe' germ count is 250 RLU

By contrast, used items were almost five times dirtier, with a germ level of 2,734 across the 25 items we sampled. This would appear to make sense, as new items are likely to be stored in secure packaging free from human hands, while used items from second-hand retailers have seen previous owners.

Thrift Store Products are Dirtiest, but new In-Store Items Also Fail Cleanliness Tests

Our analysis shows that items bought in thrift stores contained the highest germ levels, with an average germ level of 6,787 across the items we sampled. However, it really does depend on the item you're purchasing.

While some items, including a phone charger and a child's used outfit had a germ level of less than 300, a board game clocked in at a staggering germ level of 50,331 - more than 200 times higher than the internationally recognized standard for a dirty item. By design, a board game is intended to be shared by multiple players, so the higher levels are likely to reflect this.

Overall, just six of the 25 (24%) used items we purchased could be recognized as 'clean', with a germ score of less than 250. By contrast, 19 of the 25 (76%) new items met cleanliness standards. However, five products bought in-store and one bought online failed the test, including a 'try-me' sample action figure with a score of 6,884.

Video Games Among Cleanest in Retail

When we look at the items we sampled by category, we can see that only one class of item consistently passed cleanliness tests. Video games, both new and used, contained an average germ count of just 170 - considered clean at an international standard.

However, many of the other items we sampled failed the same test, with board games and toys standing head and shoulders above the rest as the dirtiest category of product we analyzed. This could be an eye-opener for many parents looking for toys to buy their children for Christmas.

While you can never tell at first glance whether an item is squeaky clean, or covered in potentially harmful germs, this analysis has shed a spotlight on the hidden bacteria lurking within everyday items we buy as new or second-hand. Whether shopping for yourself or others over the holidays, be sure to take extra care with the hygiene of the items you buy.

Methodology

We sampled germ levels on 50 popular Christmas gifts using 3M’s Clean-Trace® Hygiene Monitoring & Management System​, which analyzes levels of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) on surfaces.

The 50 items were purchased from a range of sources, including new online and in-store purchases, as well as used items from Amazon, eBay and thrift stores. We analyzed books, board games, clothing, video games and items of tech using the Clean-Trace system.

ATP has been identified by scientists as an effective indicator molecule for the presence of biological residues due to its universal presence in all living cells (microbes, animal and plant cells).

3M’s Clean-Trace system collects ATP levels on a swab to detect an increase in relative light units (RLU) using a process of bioluminescence, with the notion that higher levels of ATP indicate a stronger organism presence and therefore higher RLU levels.

The term ‘germ level’ used throughout this piece is taken to mean the RLU level sampled on our readings for each item.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the following scale should be used when measuring relative light levels on surfaces.

You can read and find out more about the Clean-Trace system here.