Sorry guys, but communal office tea bags are actually pretty gross

Reading this at work? – You might want to put down the cuppa before we go any further.

So, it's no secret that office workers all over the country consume an impressive, albeit slightly worrying, amount of tea on a daily basis.

Whether your looking for an excuse to take a sneaky break, or simply just in desperate need of a pick-me-up, it's amazing how a little stroll to the kitchen can make the working day feel just a tad bit more bearable.

However, it's looks like we might need to find a new way to break up the day, because a worrying new study has found that office teabags can carry up to 17 times more germs than a toilet seat.

Research carried out by the Initial Washroom Hygiene revealed that the average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, compared to just 220, for a toilet seat.

And as if that wasn't enough to turn you off ever stepping foot inside the office kitchen ever again, other common equipment also ranked high on the gross scale.

Bacterial readings of the average kettle handles were 2,483, while fridge doors came in at 1,592.

Dr Peter Barratt of Initial Washroom Hygiene says we all need to be more aware of the potential dangers that lie in our communal eating spaces.

“If you stop to think about the number of different hands that touch things such as the kettle handle, tea bag box lid, mugs, and so on, the potential for cross contamination really adds up,” he explains.

“Using anti-bacterial wipes on kitchen surfaces and regularly cleaning your mug can pay huge dividends in terms of maintaining a healthy workforce.”

If anyone's looking for us we'll be eating our lunches in the bathroom stalls.