I recommend nothing other than what you need when you dine or attend a meeting be placed on the table because the items we carry around are dirty; cellphones, blackberries, handbags etc. Below is a story Valerie found making the...rather gross...point:

HANDBAGS...

It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what’s inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even a microbiologist who tested them was shocked.

Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick. So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.

Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen counter top. Think of your handbag the same way you think of your shoes.