And now it's Paul Davidson's turn to take a whack at a few demons ...

Let me ask you a question.

If you were to come over to my house, walk into dining room, and see that I had left out about six tupperware containers filled with different kinds of salsa (you know, for most of the day) with the tops off and the air allowed to waft and mix with them all day long — and then offered you a burrito or a taco on which you could place said, left out, salsa... Would you?

I didn’t think so.

So why then do we go to places like La Salsa and Baja Fresh and happily fill our little plastic tubs with salsa, giddily dip chips and tacos and other mexican specialties into the stuff, and eat it and eat it and eat it without a worry in the world?

Because we’re stupid and we’re looking to get violent food poisoning.

When you go to a diner or a restaurant and you want some cream for your coffee, do they direct you to the Creamer Bar, where open containers of creamer are there ready for you to scoop some out for your drink? Or when you ask for jam for your bagel do they turn you around and point you in the direction of the Jelly Bar, where open containers of Jelly are waiting for your perusal? Or when you ask for sugar or packages of sugar substitutes for your coffee, do they point you in the direction of their Sugar Shack? No, no and no.

That’s because, without refrigeration or sanitary/sterile conditions, creamer is a germ receptacle. That’s because, without refrigeration or sterile conditions, jelly can also get bad. As for sugar – which doesn’t require any of these things, even that’s packed away in little tiny closed paper homes.

So then what’s so unspecial about salsa?

Salsa needs refrigeration. Salsa needs to be sanitary. Salsa isn’t happy when a thousand people dip their thumbs into their vats, while scooping out their favorite flavor into already uncovered plastic tubs.

Someone out there is pulling the wool over our eyes about salsa. Someone is making a killing building these salsa bars without being held responsible for the thumb dipping, warm temperatures and deep vats that anything could be accidentally dropped into without us ever knowing the better of it.

And yet we still scoop salsa without question.

It sickens me to the core.

Ick.

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Paul Davidson is the author of the book “Consumer Joe” and a contributor to Wired and Mental_Floss magazines. In addition to his blog (pauldavidson.blogs.com) he is also a regular contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered and the Producer of the upcoming FOX show “The Princes of Malibu.”