Report: Poop bacteria found in ice at McDonald's, other fast food chains
Just when you thought the last poop bacteria story couldn't gross you out more, BBC One's Watchdog group found such bacteria – known as fecal coliforms – in ice at McDonald's, KFC and Burger King U.K. locations.
This follows an investigation that discovered various levels of bacteria found in feces in ice at coffee chains Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero, also in the U.K.
In its latest investigation, the group found the coliforms at three out of 10 McDonald's locations, in six out of 10 Burger King samples and seven out of 10 KFC samples. Four Burger King samples and five KFC samples were classified as having "significant" levels of the coliform.
Tony Lewis, head of policy and education at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the U.K., discussed his concerns on Watchdog, the Liverpool Echo reports.
"It's extremely worrying," he said. "When we're finding the sorts of numbers we're finding here, you have to look at the people making the ice, handling the ice, which they then transfer into customers' drinks. And then you also have to look at hygiene failure with potentially the machines themselves: Are they being kept clean?"
All three restaurants touted their strict health procedures in statements.
Food and drink safety concerns aren't just something plaguing the U.K. Beleaguered fast casual chain Chipotle had to close one of its U.S. restaurants earlier this week after reports of illnesses from people who ate at the chain. Stool samples from one of the diners revealed at least one customer had norovirus. The location in Sterling, Virginia, has since reopened after what the restaurant said were "complete sanitizations of all surfaces."
