In late July 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believed that if people left their dishes soaking overnight, the bacteria on them would drown, leaving the dishes germ-free.
One Threads user wrote "I've heard that RFK jr believes if your leave your dishes soaking overnight, the bacteria drown leaving the dishes germ free."
The claim also circulated on Instagram (archived). Snopes readers searched our site asking if RFK Jr. really believed it to be true.
However, the claim was false. An early originator of the rumor, Threads user @johnratcliff4, repeatedly said (archived, archived) on his profile that the claim was not true. Searches on popular search engines showed no trace of Kennedy's alleged belief, which would have been very newsworthy if true given his position as health and human services secretary (archived, archived, archived, archived).
We reached out to @johnratcliff4 on Threads to confirm the claim's origin and await a reply.
Though some social media users appeared to believe the post, the user said themselves that the claim wasn't true. In a reply to one commenter, @johnratcliff4 wrote, "This isn't a courtroom, it's Threads and no one is claiming it's a factual statement." In another, replying to a commenter who wrote "We now live in the world where I have no idea if this is true or not," they said "I 'heard' about it, so it's not."
Foodsafety.gov, the U.S. government's website providing food safety advice to the public, advises that people should wash surfaces and utensils after each use.
In 2016, Professor Barbara Mullan, who specializes in food-related behaviors, told ABC News in Australia that soaking unwashed dishes could actually increase the spread of bacteria. Mullan said:
You're putting dishes into water temperature under 60 degrees and that's the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. You will end up with a lovely bacteria soup, then you will stick your hand in the sink to pull the plug out and do the dishes, and if you don't wash your hands properly you are going to cross-contaminate the kitchen.
Instead of soaking, Mullan advised people should use hot water, a scrub and brush and a clean dishcloth.
Snopes has reported on a number of rumors about RFK Jr., including whether he took his grandkids swimming in a sewage-infested creek and various statements about vaccines.