Girl's Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order

Girl's Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order

Those ice-cold drinks from favorite fast food restaurants may not seem as refreshing after a seventh-grader's science project reveals what may lurk inside the cup.

Benito Middle School student Jasmine Roberts examined the amount of bacteria in ice served at fast food restaurants...

The 12-year-old compared the ice used in the drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same restaurants. Jasmine said she found the results startling...

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water...

Uh......I don't know what to say....

[edit on 15-2-2006 by loam]

I actually don't find that very surprising. Most fast food places place a lot of priority of keeping their bathrooms clean. That is typically seen as a reflection of how the kitchen is maintained, so a clean bathroom means a clean kitchen. A nasty bathroom means a nasty kitchen. Since kitchens are typically unseen by the regular public, restaurants use their bathroom as a testament of their cleanliness.

However, rarely are ice bins cleaned out. The restaurant figures all that's going into there is clean water, and cleaning it out can only be done at closing or opening since it involves removal of all the ice. The opening crew is remarkably busy preparing all the food for the breakfast or lunch rush (depending on the type of food served), while the closing crew is focused on maintaining that cleanliness in the kitchen and dining areas. Since the ice bins are usually pretty full when the restaurant closes (and it melts over night) and hard to access, this is not often cleaned by that crew.

A word to the wise, though. Typically, the CO2 does a very good job of cooling your fountain drink, so the ice, if you drink it during that meal, isn't really necessary.

I never eat in ANY fast food places. The reason being, I used to work as a fry cook in one as a kid and I KNOW the nasty, perverse and dangerous things bored kids do to food, just to amuse themselves at the expense of the unaware customers. When you see/hear some kid behind the counter with a silly look on his face say "enjoy" as he serves you your order; this should clue you that he and his friends are yucking it up as you drive away from the drive -up. The Ice is the least of your problems. To think that low paid, bored,kids don't contaminate the food in very creative ways is just plain stupid.

Hey Marge, what kind of sauce is on your burger?

Talk about a conspiracy....






[edit on 15-2-2006 by whaaa]

ehhh, I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents. Were I ever to have seen it, even at 18, I would have stopped it from happening, too. After all, that's just wrong to do, and you are presented, in that environment, with several ways to prevent it from happening.

Originally posted by junglejake
ehhh, I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents. Were I ever to have seen it, even at 18, I would have stopped it from happening, too. After all, that's just wrong to do, and you are presented, in that environment, with several ways to prevent it from happening.

I believe you JJ. I'm still not eating in ANY of those places. I'd rather go and sit down in a mom and pop resturant, where I know the owners.
All I'm sayin is kids is kids. Schools Out!
If you are a frequent and difficult coustomer at a burger joint; you are literally taking your life in your own hands. Here's a tip; be nice and tip well.

Hey Marge, does this smell right to you?

[edit on 15-2-2006 by whaaa]

[edit on 15-2-2006 by whaaa]

Originally posted by junglejake
ehhh, I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents. Were I ever to have seen it, even at 18, I would have stopped it from happening, too. After all, that's just wrong to do, and you are presented, in that environment, with several ways to prevent it from happening.

I agree. I worked at a very busy McDonalds for a few years in H.S. and while we did nasty things to each other with the food and biproducts, it was never during our shifts and it never affected anyone's food. I remember someone saying "well you could just spit in a burger" to me while working there, thinking about it while working in the grill, and wanting to puke because I thought about it. It's not as easy to do as you think in fast food.

I think it's EASIER to do at a sit-down (with people returning orders and whatnot). At McDonalds when someone screws up an order you make a new one ... most of the time you don't even know who recieved the order or why you are making a new sandwhich. Sit-downs are much more personal.

Originally posted by junglejake
ehhh, I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents. Were I ever to have seen it, even at 18, I would have stopped it from happening, too. After all, that's just wrong to do, and you are presented, in that environment, with several ways to prevent it from happening.

I disagree, A kid got busted by police in an arby's in downtown pgh for spitting on his food.

So this is complete bs, btw ever hear of having the #s after eating at a resurant?

That is called Visine in a drink of a pissed off waitress.

Originally posted by ThichHeaded

Originally posted by junglejake
ehhh, I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents. Were I ever to have seen it, even at 18, I would have stopped it from happening, too. After all, that's just wrong to do, and you are presented, in that environment, with several ways to prevent it from happening.

I disagree, A kid got busted by police in an arby's in downtown pgh for spitting on his food.

So this is complete bs, btw ever hear of having the #s after eating at a resurant?

That is called Visine in a drink of a pissed off waitress.

That's just applying one case that you have heard of and saying that fast food is bad because of it. The vast majority are perfectly safe to eat in.

The Visine thing ... key there is waitress. When is the last time you had a waitress at Arby's or Mcdonalds? It is much more likely to have tampered food at a sit-down resturant than a fast food resturant.

Originally posted by junglejake
I worked at two fast food places for over 5 years. I never saw anyone do anything nasty to a customer's food. I think those stories may be limited to specific locations, or rare incidents.

Originally posted by whaaa
I'd rather go and sit down in a mom and pop resturant, where I know the owners.

When I was 17 I delivered pizza's for a mom and pop pizza place. One of the side dishes we delivered was antipasta (veggies in salt/vinegar brine). The antipasta was stored in 5 gallon pails in the walk in fridge. One of my coworkers was fired for poor attitude. The last thing he did before leaving was go into the basement "to get his stuff"... and pee in the antipasta. I didn't find out until overhearing him brag to his friends about it a month or two later. Needless to say... I delievered that whole 5 gallon pail worth of pisspasta to our customers and we never got a complaint.

A friend of mine "G" worked at a corporate chain sit down resturant. He has fessed up to having spit in a few drinks in his days as a server. G even told me a story about a coworker wiping a burger on the floor before serving. He claims to have only targeted "bad" customers.

Most folks I know working in the food industry tend to have poor attitudes about their jobs... drug use tends to be high, and the pay is usually low.

I eat organic rice and beans at home,

Sri Oracle