When bacteria die from boiled water, etc, where do their corpses go??
In: Biology
They die and disintegrate, and stay in the water. Presumably you’d then consume them. Once they’re dead they don’t reproduce or make any toxin, they’re dead and they get digested in your stomach just like everything else. However, it is important to note that toxins they have already made could stick around, which is why cooking already-spoiled food doesn’t make it safe.
It’s important to note we consume a lot of bacteria anyway because no surface is ever truly sterile, and our mouths are already filled with them. 99% of them do nothing, and most of them immediately die as soon as they hit stomach acid. Our entire stomach is essentially purpose-built to kill and destroy anything that tries to enter that way, and only very specialized bacteria can survive there. If the stomach acid doesn’t get them, the protein-destroying enzymes will get them, or the lipid-dissolving chemicals, or the army of immune cells that line your intestines, or your own native gut bacteria.
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