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]

...and the forks in the road? :)

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm a celibate these days and for the rest of them, so no-one gets a catch (ThankyouJesus).

I've raise one lab from a pup, fostered another until she got a home to go back to, and hunted and been buddies with several others. A few others I've babysat for anything from a weekend up to a few weeks.

Labs and salukis are very special kinds of critters.

Come January, I may, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, get a dog. The neighbor with my buddy the mastiff recently moved, and I don't have a big dog buddy nearby.

/johnny

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Ice machines tend to build up mold in any crack or crevice. The mold attracts and holds air borne bacteria. Most of them should be emptied regularly and disinfected. A good inspector will know where to look.

[Texas56]

Marvin Zindler, the original “Slime in the Ice Machine!” restaurant inspection reporter! I miss his reports.

If he ate at a particular restaurant or awarded his trademark Zindler Award to a restaurant, you knew it was a clean establishment.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Your icemaker doesn’t store large quantities of ice in a fixed holding bin. The crud builds up on the upper part of the bin, above the ice. You won’t see it just looking at the ice.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You are wrong.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

They don’t filter the air and they don’t disinfect the hands and utensils used to remove ice.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I used bleach on any damned thing that couldn't outrun me. It was the last thing before closing so the store was aired out by morning.

If you work anywhere with any kind of food service you battle crud constantly or crud wins.

[bunkerhill7]

Frozen bacteria can be cooked in a microwave for a quick nutricious snack...something like fast food.

[JRandomFreeper]

Amen. Don't get me started on ceiling tiles.

/johnny

[djf]

Don’t get me wrong, hygiene is a good thing.

But sometimes I think people overdo it.

When I was a kid, we used to hike and camp and fish and swim all over the place.
Over the years, I must have ingested enough surface water to fill a small swimming pool. Without boiling. No chlorine. No Berkys water filtering.

Once again, don’t get me wrong, contaminated water can kill you.
But very, very rarely.

A good case of Montezuma’s revenge will flush you out squeaky clean! Plus, ramp up your immune system, which for alot of people these days I think is doing the equivalent of sitting on the couch eating Cheetos.

[Hardraade]

So maybe you can tell me where her sample was taken from:

1. Cistern.
2. Pipe.
3. Bowl.

Who knows. There may even be sample-taking guidelines.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I was in pest control back in the 70s. I worked commercial kitchens at night when they were closed. I would treat with a residual pesticide, then use an aerosol flushing spray. More than once I've used a shovel to pick up dead roaches. When the spray started spreading the damned things would boil out all over the place.

Hollow block walls are roach motels.

[JRandomFreeper]

But very, very rarely.

If you are a normal healthy American.

Waterborne illness the #1 cause of death, worldwide.

Me? I'm immune compromised, without my spleen. Yeah, I got the vaccinations afterwards, but a weekend with the grandkids means 2 days very near the latrine, indoor PT only, no walks or rides.

I've worked in restaurants and military kitchens. I'd eat at a DFAC or a Dining Facility before I'd eat at a restaurant.

Some can play, some can't.

Back before my injury, I ate from street vendors in Korea after looking at their setup and watching how ma handled things.

Not today, I wouldn't.

/johnny

[djf]

I've read that at least in the bug world, roaches are relatively clean. If you watch them close you will see them grooming themselves often.

One of the worst, if not the worst, is the common fly. They are very hairy little beasties naturally attracted to decaying material which is what maggots need.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

If it makes you feel better to believe that go for it.

[cynwoody]

OK...I also posted the story in 2006.

You don't say ... Let's have a look ...

I see we have www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588652/posts, posted by XR7, in which Kenton notes in #4 that "My dog is looking very smug as I read this...".

And we have www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1578306/posts, posted by Feiny a couple of weeks before.

For posterity, it would be interesting to add your post to the list.

Junk science is ageless.

It's only junk if it isn't true. So, where's the study showing toilet water is dirtier than quick serve ice?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Ziggy is a Shriner ?

[djf]

I know waterborne illness is the #1 cause for very young people, not sure about adults.

Almost all of that is cholera and amoebic dysentery.

Which is a direct result of fecal contamination and population densities.

It’s once again one of those things ya gotta be smart about. Would I go to downtown Seattle and drink water from a puddle in an alley where the bums have been PSN?
Hell no.

Just seems to me that an article like this, while it is interesting and commendable science for the kid who did it, ends up inspiring all this (in my mind) way overdone hysteria.

We’re not talking typhoid or smallpox here.
You know what I mean! As always, take all precautions you personally feel you need to.

[djf]

If you REALLY want to get scared... do you personally have or live near a housecat???....

Cats are like parasite Wal-Marts!!