" " You'll find more germs on your smartphone than on your toilet seat -- because your phone is so close to your face and hands. Manuel-F-O/iStock/Thinkstock

If those annoying photos of food that your so-called friends keep clogging your Facebook feed with are any indication, folks are getting increasingly comfortable whipping out their smartphones at the dinner table. This isn't just bad manners; this could be hazardous to your health.

Take out your device at chow time and you may be dialing up a side of bacteria with your rack of lamb. "Mobile phones have become veritable reservoirs of pathogens as they touch faces, ears, lips and hands of different users of different health conditions," a pair of researchers observed in a 2009 study of bacteria removed from personal calling devices. Some of the germs they found are the source of a wide variety of nasty bugs, like the flu and pinkeye. Others could possibly -- albeit unlikely -- even lead to fatal infections [sources: Famurewa and David, van Gilder Cooke].



So, before you take out your mobile gadget to document your next adventure in food porn, take a gander at some of the bacteria and other micro-organisms that you might be bringing to the table.