How many times in a year do you eat at fastfood chains? How many times were you lazy to cook and decide to buy a Happy meal at a drive-through? Each value meal comes with a cold drink, right? Did it ever cross your mind that your drink contains a variety of bacteria or even E.coli?
According to a study by the UK's The Daily Mail, ice in 6 out of 10 restaurants has more bacteria than water from toilets. Isn't that enough big reason to stop putting ice on your fastfood drink?
Fast Facts:
- McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Cafe Rouge and Nandos tested
- Ice from branches had higher levels of bacteria in ice than toilet samples
- Experts say it could be down to toilets cleaned more often than ice machines
- Four samples contained enough microbes to be 'hygiene risk'
And there's more.
ANDO'S More bacteria in ice than toilets. Tests on ice water at 22C: 2,100 organisms. Toilet water: 1,300 organisms.
BURGER KING More bacteria in ice than toilets. Ice bacteria at 37C: 260 organisms. Toilet water: Within drinking water regulations.
McDONALD'S More bacteria in ice than toilets. Ice bacteria at 22C: 1,400 organisms. Toilet water at 37C: 260 organisms.
KFC More bacteria in ice than toilets. Tests on ice water at 22C: 1,100 organisms. Toilet water: Less than 1.
CAFE ROUGE More bacteria in ice than toilets, but not above laboratory's hygiene guidelines. Toilet water: Less than 1.
STARBUCKS More bacteria in ice than toilets but within laboratory hygiene guidelines.
PIZZA HUT Bacteria in ice at 22C: 430 organisms. Toilet water exceeded drinking water standards.
PIZZA EXPRESS Bacteria in ice insignificant. Toilet water: 3,200 organisms at 22C, highest in study.
GOURMET BURGER KITCHEN Bacteria in ice insignificant. Toilet water: Within bacteria count guidelines.
WAGAMAMA Ice bacteria at both temperatures less than 10 organisms. Toilet water at 37C: 160 organisms.
*All per ML
To backup this study, a seventh-grader student Jasmine Roberts from Benito Middle School in New Tampa conducted her own study to prove that Toilet Water is Cleaner than Fastfood Ice Water for her science project. Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fastfood restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida. Roberts explained that at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, the used sterile gloves to gather samples. Ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste and has been linked to several illness outbreaks across the U.S.
For this science project, Jasmine Roberts received first place in a regional science fair and won here $800 hundred dollars!
