Reese Witherspoon's sparks heated debate after posting video of herself eating snow

Hollywood A-lister Reese Witherspoon has been at the centre of a heated online debate after she posted a video of herself eating snow.

The Oscar-winning actress posted a TikTok video showing herself enjoying what she called a "Snow Salt Chococinno."

She made the beverage out of snow from outside her house, and topped it with salted caramel, chocolate, and cold-brew coffee.

Since the Legally Blonde star posted the video, her actions have launched a debate across social media, with her original post receiving more than 4,000 comments.

One wrote: "Honey, please Google how dirty snow is. There are even videos of it under a microscope. You will gag when you watch and won’t do this again."

Another wrote: "Any snow has the risk of containing pollution, dirt and microbes. It may look clean, but needs to be boiled."

Another TikToker wrote: "I advise against. Get your ice from a clean space like your fridge where you may find it made out of filtered water actually apt for human consumption."

The 47-year-old has posted three further videos answering her concerned followers questions.

Across three TikTok posts, she said: "So there are so many people on here saying that snow is dirty.

"So we went and took stuff from the back yard and we microwaved it and it's clear. Is this bad?

"Am I not supposed to eat snow?

"We're kind of in the category of you only live once and it snows maybe once a year here. Also it was delicious. It was so good.

"Ok talking about the snow not being filtered, I didn't grow up drinking filtered water we drank out of the tap water.

"We actually put our mouths on the tap and then sometimes like in the summer when it was hot, we drank out of the hose, we would put our mouth on the hose growing up.

"So filtered water, I didn't, maybe that's why I'm like this.

"So what you are saying to me is that I have to filter the snow before, I just can't filter now, I don't know how to do that."

Not everyone was against her choice of drink though, as many also defended her actions.

One person wrote on her original post: "I do this same thing every time it snows, I make snow ice cream, but I grew up eating snow and drinking tap water and drinking out of a hose."

Another wrote: "When I was a kid I used to eat snow...I am still alive soon turning 43."

Another person wrote: "Just don’t eat any yellow snow."

Is it safe to eat snow?

The Met Office says snow is defined as "solid precipitation" that occurs "at temperatures well below 0C but as larger snowflakes at temperatures near 0C."

Research published in 2018 by Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Miercurea Ciuc - one of the coldest cities in Romania - shows that freshly fallen snow that is only half a day old has very little bacteria.

However, by the second day, the snow had dozens of bacteria growing in it, the research, which was also cited in HealthNews, said.

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