If you were told that fecal matter is in the ice cubes of your favorite fast food, what would be your reaction? You will certainly be disgusted. The Daily Mail has released a report from the BBC Watchdog group on the presence of fecal matter in ice machines in some fast food restaurants.
Fecal bacteria in your menu?
More than half of the samples taken at major fast food chains, namely KFC, Burger King and McDonald's, were identified as contaminated because coliform bacteria were found growing indoors.
Ice samples were taken from 10 randomly selected restaurants in each chain - 30 outlets in total.
The test was conducted to find coliform bacteria, these are indicators of faecal contamination, which define the standards of drinking water in the UK, and which should not be present in the water used for consumption human.
The contamination occurred because ice or ice machines were touched by staff who did not wash their hands well after using the toilet.
Disturbing figures
Coliforms were found in 7 of 10 samples taken from KFC, 6 from Burger King and 3 from McDonald's. Worse, 4 samples taken from Burger King and 5 from KFC have been described as having "severe" levels of contamination.
The figures come from a study conducted by the BBC Watchdog program following previous revelations of similar ice contamination served by cafeteria chains. The presence of the bacteria is proof that fecal matter was once present in the machine.
Of course, KFC responded to the report by saying that they had strict procedures for cleaning the ice maker, but it appears that these procedures were not followed. McDonald issued a similar statement and added that they would revisit their food safety guidelines.
Tony Lewis, Chief of Policy and Education at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, described the results as "extremely worrying". He said that when we find that kind of numbers, you have to control the people who make ice cream, handle the ice cream, and then put it in the drinks of the customers.
And then, we must also control the problem of hygiene in the machines themselves: are they kept clean?
McDonald and KFC claim that their restaurants score high during independent hygiene assessments. In 2010, 90% of ice fountains in Virginia contained coliform bacteria and even soda dispensers were below US standards. Moreover, it is not all that can be found in the products sold by these restaurants.
The finds are not lacking
In 2005, Lauren Coleman ordered fries at Illini Union McDonald's and found a bandage used in her fries, she said: "McDonald's in the campus is not very clean, but it's the only one on campus, it There is a big risk when you make an order there. "
Sweden had its share of McDonald's woes when, in a small town outside Gothenburg, a man named Yusuf Bercil bought a hamburger at McDonald's. After taking a bite, he finds a nail. The nail was 1.5 cm long and it got stuck between the gums and the teeth of the man. He recounted his particularly unpleasant experience to local newspapers by saying, "I managed to get it out of my mouth but then I vomited. And if one of my children had had this hamburger in my place? "
Switzerland could be the country of the worst portions of chips in the history of McDonald's. In 2009, a seven-year-old girl discovered a condom in her fries. The mother called the police who launched an investigation to determine if the condom was used or not and how it landed in the fries. McDonald's declined to comment on the case.
In 2006, after ordering a salad to bring her home one night, Todd Haley found a dead rat 15 cm long in its salad. Haley, after recovering from the shock, initiated a lawsuit against McDonald's for $ 1.7 million in damages.
All this does not make you want to eat in this type of fast food restaurants. As noted, laxity is not lacking in these restaurants which can endanger the health of consumers, in addition to the fact that the proposed food is very caloric and contains many industrial additives harmful to human health.