Ice from american restaurants

[zane2673]

This is gross, needless to say I won't be drinking anymore cold drinks out!!!
<DIV class=articleline>Feb. 20) - 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.</DIV>
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.
"These [bacteria] don't belong there," said Dr. David Katz, medical contributor to "Good Morning America." "It's not cause for panic, although it is alarming because what she found is nothing new. You're not more likely to get sick now. But she's done us a favor by sounding the alarm."
Both Roberts and Katz said that the ice is likely dirtier because machines aren't cleaned and people use unwashed hands to scoop ice. Toilet water is also surprisingly bacteria-free, because it comes from sanitized city water supplies.
Support From Big Brother
Roberts got interested in the project after reading a newspaper article about bacteria in airplane water and decided to do something similar. Plus, she said, all of her friends chew on ice, and it drives her crazy.
"I just picked the not-obvious choice," the seventh grader said of her project.
Her 18-year-old brother, Justus, is also an award-winning science fair veteran who said he has encouraged his little sister's interest in science.
Justus said when Jasmine told him her idea for this project, "I gave her a high five, then said, 'You're a strange little kid.' But I supported her all the way."
The restaurants also have taken notice of Roberts' project. Two began new sanitary polices and have asked her to come back and do her tests again.
"First they appreciated the project," she said. "And one location even asked me to come back and test the temperature of their food."

[lucinda]

wow, that was really interesting, I've always wondered about the ice thing. I have some friend who never order ice in their drinks because of similar stories they've heard.

[fifi]

No ice for me then!!!! What an interesting thing. I dont eat or drink out anymore. Cant trust anyone.


Fifi


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[thegooddr]

reminds me of something we used to do in Microbiology practicals in
first year at university. We would go around the department with
agar and sample various surfaces and handles etc. Every year the
practical was done the serving hatch of the cafe bar would have the
highest counts of ALL bacteria we encountered. A few years ago
they people who ran the cafe put a stop to students sampling from the
counter as, and I quote, and this is no joke '..it is unhygenic to do
it'.



Strange but I never ate there.



Iain

[lucinda]

thegooddr: wow that is both interesting and disturbing I will people who worked with food would be more serious! Also thats so cool you studdied microbiology!

[mitch04133]

It's because they never clean those Ice Machines out! I have never gotten ill from ice, so I will continue to order ice in my drink like normal. Remember there is bacteria everywhere, and we all need some to keep our immune systems working!! ( i know not E-coli, but if non of us as ever gotten sick before, and I've ordered thousands and thousands of drinks, then we can't give in)

[babygap5]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11318353/


This is a link to one of the many stories written about her "study." It is very subjectable because she won't name the actual restaurants "for legal reasons." And if the ice was as bad as she is claiming, there would be hundreds of people who would be sick from the ecoli she claims was found in the ice. I'm not doubting there was some bacteria she found, but I'm not going to stop my ice consumption on a 7th graders school project.





Of the bacteria found in the ice, three out of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, organisms that come from the feces of warm-blooded animals.Edited by: babygap5

[thegooddr]

I haven't read her 'study', but does she actually mention E.coli, or
just coliforms. I think if you sampled most water there would be
a small amount of coliform bacteria, its just when it gets high that it
is not dangerous, but an indicator of possible contamination with other
bugs (this is one of the tests they do for water quality at beaches
etc).



Also not all E.coli are dangerous. I work with many strains of
E.coli in the lab and to be quite honest I could probably gulp down a
glass (and before you ask, No I am not going to) and not be ill.
the thing that would probably make me ill is the high salt content of
the nutrients that E.coli is grown in in the lab.



As babygap says, if the contamination is that bad, then there would be
significant outbreaks of disease around the US, and there just plain
isn't.



Iain

[chicajojobe]

Yeah, that is pretty disturbing to think about. However, I've gone 19
years drinking fountain drinks and never gotten sick from or even heard
of anyone getting sick from it. They recommend ordering drinks without
ice in other countries, but when it comes to my own I think I'm safe to
continue having iced drinks.

[slingshot]

Makes me want to run out and get a large diet coke! Good lord! I honestly would never have thought about this, so, I would have to guess Hotel Ice would be really bad for you, yes?

[nikki.l]

I've gotten sick from ice....


But it was in Mexico and I should have known better!

[crimgoddess]

Ditto to what some of the others have said- I eat out a lot, and have never gotten sick from ice before. I figure if it ain't broke, don't fix it- I would rather sip on my cold pop than worry about a small amount of something making me sick.


As for things like fecal coliforms- they're pretty much everywhere, and they don't necessarily make you sick. It's funny, because in an episode of mythbusters they did an experiment toshe the effects ofleaving a toothbrush on the back of a toilet- it tested positive for fecal coliforms. They also tested the toothbrush next to the sink- also positive for fecal coliforms. So I was like "ewww- gross, nowhere is safe". BUT they control sample also had an amount of the coliforms on it. The result? Through handling and contact with different surfacesand such this stuff ends up being everywhere. It's gross- but it doesn't necessarily mean you will get sick.


Sometimes a little information can be a bad thing.....


*amber*

[donna1216]

On the news they said that all of the levels were in the "acceptable" range.

[japa]

Yup, the media publicizing this little girl's science fair project is absolutely wacky. Please don't anyone on here base any of his or her decisions on whether to consume ice from this project. No, no, no.


She sounds like a talented little girl, but asmany havesaid, these bacteria are all over, and it is often a question of what level they're at. It's tricky enough to base one's decisions on scientific studies completed by people with Ph.d's and published in refereed journals because a lot of times, a study will come out, the results of which are contradicted by a different study a few years later.


What about this little girl's techniques? Many times crime labs are in trouble for their shoddy scientific techniques that contaminate samples and render results invalid. How carefully did this little girl collect these samples?