In addition to being delicious, hot sauce comes with a slew of health benefits since it contains capsaicin, the compound that creates a sense of spiciness and may also help with pain relief, low metabolism, and inflammation. However, one benefit hot sauce does not have is the ability to make foods like raw shellfish safe to eat.

A common claim about hot sauce is that it has the ability to kill bacteria, like the potentially deadly Vibrio vulnificus, on shellfish like raw oysters. It turns out that soaking your oysters in Tabasco isn't a failsafe, and the FDA informs us that hot sauce has just as much effect on harmful bacteria as water — which is to say, none.

A study published by the National Library of Medicine did find that Vibrio vulnificus cells diminished after soaking raw oysters in Tabasco for 10 minutes; however, there was no significant decrease in harmful bacteria. If you're squeamish about raw oysters, hot sauce won't help you, and you should thoroughly cook your seafood.