Seventh-Grader's Science Project Turns Up Some Disturbing Results

The water in the toilets of restaurants is often cleaner than the ice in their ice machines.

Jasmine Roberts never expected her award-winning middle school science project to get so much attention. But the project produced some disturbing results: 70 percent of the time, ice from fast food restaurants was dirtier than toilet water.

The 12-year-old collected ice samples from five restaurants in South Florida — from both self-serve machines inside the restaurant and from drive-thru windows. She then collected toilet water samples from the same restaurants and tested all of them for bacteria at the University of South Florida.

In several cases, the ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste and has been linked to several illness outbreaks across the country.

abcnews.go.com

this is why i dont go to these places, you think the food will make ya sick then BAM you get e.coli from the drinks!

AH!

I knew my dogs were onto something..LOL.
I think I'll bottle it.

Flushing Springs, c'mon over, we'll leave the lid up..

BTW, that dancing cat rocks!

Reminds me of when I went to go clean the potable water tanks on this ship I was on while it was at the dry docks. Even though we kept 5ppm chlorine in the system, I swear there was some new types of creatures growing in those tanks. I only drink bottled water on the ships now.

BTW... Ivan... Go Blackshirts!!!


[edit on 22-2-2006 by LostSailor]

I'm tired of hearing reports about the fact that fecal material being on things. The fact is it doesnt matter. There is fecal matter in bathrooms, on your toothbrush, on doorknobs, on computer keyboards, on desks, on chairs, it is EVERYWHERE. It doesn't matter if you wash your hands or not. If you take a swab and grow a culture in a petri dish, it will ALWAYS show up positive for fecal bacteria.

The whole world isn't 100% sanitary. That's why we have immune systems.

Says the guy with a manure bag for an avatar!!! I'm sorry man... I hear what your saying and understand. I just couldn't resist myself. *peace*

Says the guy with a manure bag for an avatar!!!

Heh, being a member of ATS, I am used to wading hip-deep in manure on a regular basis. (That's not an insult against the site... just a certain amount of people on it )

Originally posted by Yarcofin
I'm tired of hearing reports about the fact that fecal material being on things. The fact is it doesnt matter. There is fecal matter in bathrooms, on your toothbrush, on doorknobs, on computer keyboards, on desks, on chairs, it is EVERYWHERE. It doesn't matter if you wash your hands or not. If you take a swab and grow a culture in a petri dish, it will ALWAYS show up positive for fecal bacteria.

The whole world isn't 100% sanitary. That's why we have immune systems.

Cheers mate, that's amde me even more paranoid! I nearly chucked up!

Those results are disturbing and added with Yarcofins blatantless makes it even worse.

Hypochondria:

The persistent conviction that one is or is likely to become ill, often involving symptoms when illness is neither present nor likely, and persisting despite reassurance and medical evidence to the contrary.

Source: Dictionary.com

Bacteria can be found everywhere- in air, water, and soil, even in and on your own body.

Source:www.water-research.net...

human feces are 75% water, but of the remaining 25%, the majority is composed of live and dead bacteria.

Source: www.medfriendly.com...

"The average cutting board has about 200% more fecal bacteria than the average toilet seat" -Charles Gerba, PhD, a professor of microbiology at University of Arizona in Tucson

There are living things moving around inside you. There are little mites in your bed and on your eyelashes. You simply can't escape the thriving microbiological community.

Zanzibar, if you want a really good reason to put the toilet seat down, it should be because if you don't, the mist can spray and disperse for meters, covering you, your toothbrush, and everything in the room with bacteria.

Happy eating =).

[edit on 23-2-2006 by Yarcofin]

Originally posted by Yarcofin


Zanzibar, if you want a really good reason to put the toilet seat down, it should be because if you don't, the mist can spray and disperse for meters, covering you, your toothbrush, and everything in the room with bacteria.

Happy eating =).

[edit on 23-2-2006 by Yarcofin]

That's just wrong. I'm glad I always leave the seat down!

Oh great, now it's the water too.

My main concern was the smirk on the kids face that handed me my order with the with the saccharine phrase "ENJOY"

Somehow I just don't trust low paid, bored, wiseass teens in the food industry, even though I am very courteous and tip well.

I'm not saying they contaminate the food or water, but my anti diarrhea medicine jug is almost empty.

On another thread there was a reference to the unhappy waitress and the visine bottle

I also see in the fast food resturants, more employees wearing rubber gloves. Is the food so bad they need to be protected from it or is it the other way around.

Trouble is, fast food taste's much better than anything I make at home.
Burittos, tacos, checheronies, mysterymeat nuggets, fries fried in lard, 7-11 hotdogs, hot links, I love America!!!

All I'm sayin is if you eat this kind of stuff; the water is the least of your worries!!

Bon Apatite

[edit on 23-2-2006 by whaaa]

[edit on 23-2-2006 by whaaa]

* Toilet seat – more than 49 microbes per square inch
* Photocopier – more than 69 microbes per square inch
* Computer mice – more than 1,676 microbes per square inch
* Keyboards – roughly 3,295 microbes per square inch
* Telephones – up to 25,127 microbes per square inch

Toilet seats have less germs than your desk

All I'm sayin is if you eat this kind of stuff; the water is the least of your worries!!

True. It isn't the germs that'll kill ya, it's the cholesterol.

[edit on 24-2-2006 by Yarcofin]

I'm sure that toilet seat have fewer germs than office desks because most toilet seats in commercial environments get a dousing with disinfectant at least once per day. My guess is that most office desks don't get that in a year.