Office workers choosing to eat at their desks is leaving crumbs on keyboards which attract rodents
For many, the tiny morsel of food buried beneath the keyboard is an innocuous, albeit unpleasant, hazard of a working lunch.
But the seemingly harmless crumb is now being blamed for a growing health crisis within the workplace.
The Royal Society of Chemistry says mice are leaving droppings in computer keyboards as they search for food crumbs in empty offices at night.
Their claims come amid a rise in anecdotal evidence suggesting mice are becoming an increasing problem.
One London cleaning firm told them: 'A woman worker wondered why 'seeds' were coming out of her computer keyboard when she typed.
'She was mystified because she did not eat food at her desk. An investigation showed them to be mice droppings.'
The RSC claim good office hygiene is as important as domestic cleanliness and are now calling on employers to adopt a clean workstation policy.
They have launched a search for Britain's filthiest computer keyboard in an attempt to highlight the growing problem.
The RSC, which has a clean keyboard, monitor and telephone policy, is this year focusing on science and health in society.
To bring attention to office hygiene, it plans to publish pictures of the nation's dirtiest keyboards on its website.
A spokesman for the RSC said: 'There is evidence that mice run along a computer keyboard, pressing down on the keys to get at food crumbs left by people snacking while working.
'That is why it is important to wash your hands before eating food.'
Computer keyboards have long been blamed for causing health problems. Research conducted by Which? in 2008 found they can harbour more harmful bacteria than a lavatory seat.
Many users, they said, are at risk of becoming ill with stomach bugs dubbed 'qwerty tummy' after the first six letters on a keyboard.
During their research they conducted tests on equipment in its own London offices.
One keyboard was so dirty that a microbiologist ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned. It had 150 times the acceptable limit for bacteria and was five times as filthy as a typical lavatory seat.
Anyone who eats a sandwich or piece of fruit having been tapping on such a keyboard can pick up bacteria that could lead to a stomach upset.
The scientist swabbed 33 keyboards for food poisoning bugs e.coli, coliforms, staphylococcus aureus and enterobacteria and compared the results to those found on a lavatory seat and lavatory door handle.
Four of the keyboards were considered a potential health hazard and one was 'condemned'.
Two had 'warning levels' of staphylococcus aureus and two others had 'worryingly elevated' levels of coliforms and enterobacteria, 'putting users at high risk of becoming ill from contact'.
The expert said the findings were typical of offices all over Britain.
Which? found that one in ten people never clean their keyboard, while 20 per cent never clean their mouse. Around half cleaned their keyboard less than one a month.
The spokesman for the RSC added: 'We are now asking office workers to take shots of offensive keyboards and workstations and to email them to us at the RSC.
'We will give £300 to the sender of the most awful image. However, we will not entertain any shots that smack of contrivance and will ask for a witness to the keyboard dirtiness.
'We do not need the names of the organisations where the pictures were taken and will not publish any identification of the place or the sender.
'Therefore we ask that shots do not have anything in them which might betray confidential information or identify the users or their employers.' ( dailymail.co.uk )
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