C’mon! Of Toilets, Ice & Bacteria

Yuck! You’d think toilets were full of bacteria, right?

Well, 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts, a smart 7th grade student in Tampa, Florida hit upon a startling discovery as part of her winning science fair project.

She compared the ice used in sodas and other drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same fast food restaurants. She was shocked by the results.

The ice served in soft drinks and other beverages at fast food restaurants had more bacteria than ice from the same restaurant’s toilets! Not only that, but 70 percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Jasmine had the water tested at a lab at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where she volunteers with a USF professor. Ice in three of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, organisms that come from the feces of warm-blooded animals. Disgusting!

As the Tampa newspaper pointed out, symptoms "related to the presence of coliform include cramps and diarrhea. E. coli can cause intestinal illness and, in rare cases, hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious kidney condition."

"I thought there might be a little bacteria in the ice, but I never expected it to be this much," Jasmine told the Tampa Bay News. "And I never thought the toilet water would be cleaner."

Talk about another compelling reason to stay away from those high fructose corn syrup-laden sodas!

Thanks to Fast Food News for the lead on this news item.