Student Compares Toilet Water To Ice At Fast Food Joints, With Disturbing Results

busineesinsider.com ^ | Oct. 18, 2012 | Ashley Lutz

[Daffynition]

A Florida student found that the ice at fast food restaurants is actually dirtier than the toilet water at the same establishment.

The student, 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts, hypothesized that the ice at fast food joints was probably dirtier than the toilets.

So she went to five fast food restaurants and collected samples.

She ordered cups of ice and put them in sterile beakers. She also went into bathrooms, flushed the toilet once, and collected a sample.

The findings were pretty disturbing.

[Daffynition]

Somewhere Mike Bloomberg is smiling.

[GeronL]

I am amused at the number of people who don’t seem to know that the water in the toilet tank and the water coming from the sink come from the same pipes.

[Hardraade]

Not from the tank. From the bowl.

[norton]

I recently spent a week end in a high end hotel in a resort town.
The ice machine on our floor was shut down for some reason (?)
The smell immediately sent me back to drinking my scotch warm.

[norton]

I recently spent a week end in a high end hotel in a resort town.
The ice machine on our floor was shut down for some reason (?)
The smell immediately sent me back to drinking my scotch warm.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Have you ever been sorry you’ve opened a thread?

And....read it?

[Sherman Logan]

Ice machines are in general never cleaned. Hotels are probably worse than fast food joints, which at least cycle the water through quickly.

The article can be quite misleading because the relevant issue is often not the quantity of bacteria but rather the type, and I strongly suspect toilets are more likely to be harboring pathogens.

Also many other surfaces in the bathroom, which don’t get cleaned, are likely more contaminated than the water in the toilet.

[norton]

(sorry)

[hoosierham]

I once watched restaurant worker carry out two 5 gallon buckets full of ice to the drink machine.She sat both buckets on the floor in front of the machine.You know,the very same place where hundreds of customers shoes trod ever day.She then opened the machine's lid,picked up one bucket at at time ,and dumped the ice into the machine. So far,so good.

THEN the worker picked up one bucket ,dropped it into the other bucket and carried them away.

I doubt anyone even rinsed out the buckets between carries.

When I spoke to the manager,I got a look of incomprehension,as though she could not see a problem.

[Frapster]

The scariest part of any public restroom has always been the door knob.

[JRandomFreeper]

It's not just that.

When I run a kitchen, the ice scoop is kept in a 1/3 pan with bleach water (50PPM) in it.

Doesn't go back, or you reach in with your hands, or a glass? Fired.

Walk into the kitchen and don't first go to the sink and wash? Fired.

Ice machines are dangerous. They are a prime place to grow bacteria.

When I was in a military kitchen, they got emptied and bleached regularly. I couldn't fire anyone... but I could make life miserable.

If I see an ice scoop on top of an ice machine, I won't eat at a restaurant.

I'm a jerk about it, but 20% of a deployment ineffective or degraded with a preventable stomach bug just doesn't suck, it can get you killed.

In the military, in the field, we had daily health inspections by the medical officers. In the commercial world, when I run a kitchen, I do the same inspection.

Some folks love me, some folks hate me. Most don't know and don't care.

/johnny

[jonascord]

I was going to say that she should have also gotten a sample from the the bathroom sink faucet. Very few fast food restaurants use toilet tanks. The popular alternative is those timed auto valves.

[Daffynition]

LOL...if *I* posted it....you can be sure it would be frivolous and full of useless info. :)

[Daffynition]

I just checked the manual that came with my new fridge...no where does it recommend that the ice maker be cleaned periodically. Heh.

[JRandomFreeper]

I strongly suspect toilets are more likely to be harboring pathogens.

You suspect wrong. The worker that didn't wash his/her hands after latrine call and sticks them in the ice machine may have put the exact same pathogens in the ice machine that doesn't get cleaned as often as the toilet bowl.

Ice machines are petri dishes for bacteria. I once cleaned one that had a pink slime on the floor of it, when I got to the bottom. It had NEVER been cleaned.

/johnny

[Brad’s Gramma]

We went out for pizza last night.

I had Coke.

With ice. Whoooooooooooooob boy.

[hinckley buzzard]

I invite anyone who takes this juvenile baloney seriously, to take a drink from the toilet rather than ice from the ice machine next time they are in a McDonalds. Then we'll see who really believes this crapola.

[GeronL]

I have never thought of those particular problems, now I’m paranoid. lol

[RetiredTexasVet]

Just a note. The water pipe connected to the tank which is connected to the bowl......

[babyfreep]

I’ve gone in the RR after a theater movie or other places and seen countless purses ON THE FLOOR in the stalls. They usually put little hooks on the doors just for that. I have no idea why any woman would put their purse on the floor in a public toilet, but they do. If there’s no hook, I hang mine over the corner of the door.