Portland Food and Drink

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Would You Like Feces With Your Soda?

by 6 Comments

E. Coli - BacteriaMicrobiologists found that 48% of sodas tested from the fast food fountains contain coliform bacteria, which is typically fecal in origin

Along with the pink meat product, comes this story via The Huffington Post. Their article is just a brief excerpt from The International Journal of Food Microbiology.

…A team of microbiologists from Hollins University found that 48% of sodas tested from the fast food fountains contain coliform bacteria, which is typically fecal in origin. And most bacteria found were antibiotic resistant, as icing on the cake.

And from The IJFM:

Most of the identified bacteria showed resistance to one or more of the 11 antibiotics tested. These findings suggest that soda fountain machines may harbor persistent communities of potentially pathogenic microorganisms which may contribute to episodic gastric distress in the general population and could pose a more significant health risk to immunocompromised individuals.

You can read the actual study here.

Bottled water anyone?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. QV says

    From what I remember of my HAACP training much of that fecal residue is from the disposable cups. Even a perfectly clean establishment can sometimes not avoid this as there can be pest infestations in the manufacturing plant of these materials and the warehouses that store them as well.

    I haven’t had a to go cup of soda since taking that class…

    Reply

  4. Adrian says

    This news is disgusting. This gives me another reason to avoid coke. I think the fountains must be cleaned regularly to prevent bacterial growth.

    Reply

  5. snowyaker says

    I’m a little suprised about the finding. During my youth working at a TCBY, we disassembled the soda machine every night and soaked the plastic parts in an industrial cleaner that would kill anything. It took about 2 minutes to take the soda machine a part and put it back together.

    Reply

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