“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.”...You are right.. A friend who works on ice machines for a living confirms that many ice machines are not regularly cleaned but the germs would be vastly different. Plus he says this story is recycled, that every few years this story is revived but the ‘student’ is never named. Personally he said he never orders iced drinks in any place that has a bakery or pizza because it’s the yeast in the air that causes the ugly growth in the ice machines...
The student was named in this story. But you are quite right the story pops up every few years.