Ice Cubes vs. Toilet Water?

I’m sure many of you have heard of the infamous middle school science project that found toilet water to be cleaner than ice cubes in fast food restaurants.  A little girl from Florida collected samples of ice and toilet water from 5 local restaurants.  She then went to the university of Southern Florida to test them for bacteria.  In more than one case, the ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste.  This study shocked people around the nation. Dr. David Katz said, “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”  I agree that it is very alarming.  What are we really consuming when we have a drink from a restaurant?  The findings from this study make sense.  They stated that this happens because they ice machines do not get cleaned out as much as they should.  Often times, human hands are scooping the ice too, which explains how much of this bacteria gets into the ice.  Also, the water from the toilet comes from sanitized city water supplies. (ABC)

After this girl brought this issue to the national and global stage, other countries decided to test this out as well.  One study was conducted in Britain with six out of their 10 most popular restaurants, including, McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, and other local restaurants.  Like the other study, no samples presented an immediate danger to our health, however, four of these samples contained microbes that could be considered a “hygiene risk”  In McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King, the tests came back with a “poor hygiene” result.  The scientists stated that one of the local restaurants along with Burger King, had twice as much bacteria in the ice than they expected/should see.  This study was conducted my obtaining a bag of ice with a sterile bag, and a sample of water by an “environmental health practitioner.”  When the results were analyzed, they found that the contaminated ice was from the dirty ice machine, and employees failing to wash their hands.  Both of these results mirror those of the girl from Florida’s.  The video below explains the findings of this study very well.

When looking at these studies, it is clear to determine the null and alternative hypotheses.  The null hypothesis in this case would be: the amount of bacteria in ice and and toilet water is the same.  The alternative hypothesis would be: the amount of bacteria in bacteria and toilet water is not the same.  Clearly, there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis. I do not know if numerically and statistically there is enough evidence to prove this, but each finding of this study has showed that the toilet water is cleaner.  This is something that I wish to look into more in the future.  I hope that more studies are done to help prove this. Either way, every study that I have came across, the results were the same.  There is a larger amount of bacteria in the ice than in the toilet water.

There was a meta analysis on this study that I came across while researching this topic.  Almost every single article I clicked on displayed the same result.  This article decided to further explain the findings of the original study.  He found that only 70% of the time did the ice have more bacteria than the toilet water. Also, he found that the soda dispensers were dirty too, which can lead to the E. coli presence as well. This would lead me to change my beliefs.  I have found that many sources, especially stories like this one, stretch the truth.  They want to publish their story,  and get their point across.  This study definitely shows how science can be twisted, and only certain parts of the findings can be shown.  It is our job as citizens to find out the truth, which I think is sad, we should be presented with the truth.  We should not have to figure it out on our own.

To sum this all up, there is definitely evidence that there is bacteria in the ice from restaurants, and sometimes unhealthy bacteria.  It is up to you to choose how safe the ice is, and if you want to consume it.  Maybe even you could research this topic more!

One thought on “Ice Cubes vs. Toilet Water?

  1. Eric Anthony Campbell

    This article is very alarming. For myself, this doesn’t concern me because I don’t drink soda or fountain drinks because of the empty calories they present, but it affects others that I know. If these ice cubes are dangerous is one argument, but just the sheer grossness of the bacteria creeps me out. I HATE dirtiness and germs, these studies will make me never get ice again at fast food restaurants; from now on I will just get a bottled drink. What I wonder is just how dirty these fast food places are in general, I found a Dateline NBC video which discusses this at an alarming rate. VIDEO

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