So drinking out of the toilet is better than fast food ice?

[webby]

Student finds toilet water cleaner than ice at fast food restaurants

By: Dave Balut

New Tampa, Florida - 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts is a seventh-grade student at Benito Middle School in New Tampa.

When it came time for her to choose a science project, she wondered about the ice in fast food restaurants.

Jasmine Roberts, 7th-grade student:
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants’ ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants’ toilet water."

So Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida.

Roberts says at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, the used sterile gloves to gather samples.

Jasmine Roberts:
"Using the sterile beaker I scooped up some water and closed the lid."

Roberts also collected ice from soda fountains inside the five fast food restaurants. She also asked for cups of ice at the same restaurant's drive thru windows.

She tested the samples at a lab at the Moffitt Cancer Center where she volunteers with a USF professor. Roberts says the results did not surprise her.

Jasmine Roberts:
"I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant's contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant's toilet water."

Roberts' graph shows the toilet water, shown in red, had less bacteria in most cases than the ice inside shown in blue, and the ice from drive-through windows shown in green. Roberts' teacher says he wasn't surprised either.

Mark Danish, Honors Science Teacher:
"It does concern me and I think with any restaurant you have to think twice about what you may get there."

Roberts says she'll think twice before getting ice at fast food restaurants again.

Her project won the science fair at Benito Middle School, and she hopes to win the top prize at the Hillsborough County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which starts Tuesday at the USF Sun Dome.


UPDATE:
New Tampa 7th grader Jasmine Roberts received first place in a regional science fair for her project. 12-year-old Jasmine compared ice, to toilet water at fast food restaurants, and in most cases, the toilet water was cleaner. Jasmine won 800 hundred dollars for her project.






I think I'm going to be sick.

[2fast4u2]

That's really disgusting!!!

[Silver8th]

How can that be? Whatever happened to OSHA?

[Shemmy]

Damn it! I'm a compulsive ice eater.

[MyFirstCivic@35]

That's like the study released a few years back that concluded that a dog's mouth has less bacteria than a humans, but yet I am not comforted when a dog licks me after he licks his own ass.

[Silver8th]

Originally Posted by MyFirstCivic@35

That's like the study released a few years back that concluded that a dog's mouth has less bacteria than a humans, but yet I am not comforted when a dog licks me after he licks his own ass.

[aznkukuboi]

jeez... I work at a fast food restaurant.

I eat the ice all the time. -_-"

[sh33t_0f_p4p3r]

its cuz pee kills bacteria

[hoanger]

oh man.... -_-

[KingMarineM16a4]

Well all I can say is that the two chicken express' that I worked at in Texas had a 7-step filtration system for our water.

[firmhonda]

Originally Posted by sh33t_0f_p4p3r

its cuz pee kills bacteria

+1

It really does make perfect sense. Urine has ammonia in it which kills bacteria, therefor unless they are putting something like bleach in your ice it will have more bacteria.


Also, you should bet on everything you get from a fast food resteraunt having nasty things in it.. It's not like they ask for people to have a degree to work there. Hell, most places around here you don't even have to speak a real language. I would think it would be common sense, if work ethic is low, then the quality of the product is low.


Still, reading it is pretty gross..

Originally Posted by KingMarineM16a4

Well all I can say is that the two chicken express' that I worked at in Texas had a 7-step filtration system for our water.

You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.. Chicken Express sweet tea pwn3s all. There's one around the corner from my house, I drink that tea everytime I'm a designated driver.. or when I'm bored.

[akai6]

stagnite H20 , I work in a clinic, no ice machine or water dispenser whatsoever

[Driving91LX]

Yea, that's nasty but part of life.
If we thought about where food came from or what's on/in it all the time we would all starve! (Like milk, eggs, meat, beer, etc.)
Oh wait. I guess we could all become vegetarian. Plus you never hear people complaining about the senseless slaughter of defenseless corn stalks!

[Special Ringpop]

I remember reading about the filthiness of fast food ice before, but this is the first I've heard in awhile.

I'm not surprised.

[Robdog007]

Originally Posted by firmhonda

+1

It really does make perfect sense. Urine has ammonia in it which kills bacteria, therefor unless they are putting something like bleach in your ice it will have more bacteria.

Actually, human urine does not contion ammonia, at least not in a complete form. Ammonia is a by-product of protein & amino acid catabolism (breakdown), which is essential for survival. While some organisms *do* excrete ammonia, humans are not one of them. Our livers convert the toxic ammonia into non-toxic urea, which is then excreted with other waste products as urine.

[xmx250]

These things are mis-leading. The bacteria found in that ice machine are probably wayyyy less harmful than the ones in the toilet.

[MyFirstCivic@35]

Originally Posted by Driving91LX

Yea, that's nasty but part of life.
If we thought about where food came from or what's on/in it all the time we would all starve! (Like milk, eggs, meat, beer, etc.)
Oh wait. I guess we could all become vegetarian. Plus you never hear people complaining about the senseless slaughter of defenseless corn stalks!

Dude, I hate to break this to you:

I live on a farm. I don't own the farm and I don't work on the farm (I did in college). One year they grew the cabbage in the field next to the house. One day I was looking out the window and watching the Peoples of Questionable Legal Work Elligibilty tilling the ground between the cabbage plants, when one of the guys whipped it out and whizzed.

[Gonzo]

I don't know why you are all saying you aren't surprised. I'd say I am.

I would have though the machines just freeze tap water. I wouldn't think there is a lot of room for contamination. Is there something I am missing?

Must be some dirty machines...

[JeShUa]

yum

[dentrecords]

OK that's just gross