48% Of VA Soda Fountain Drinks Tested Contained Coliform Bacteria - LA Times

[hatrack]

All right, two burgers with a side of fries coming up ... would you like a large fecally contaminated soda with that?

Like it or not, that's what you may be drinking, says a study published in the January print edition of the International Journal of Food Microbiology. The study looked at 90 beverages from 30 soda fountains in Virginia. A follow-up study took a look at the microbes they found in 27 drinks (including water). Researchers found that 48% of the drinks were harboring "coliform" bacteria -- which means they could contain fecal matter.

"More than 11% of the beverages analyzed contained Escherichia coli and over 17% contained Chryseobacterium meningosepticum," according to the abstract. "Other opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms isolated from the beverages included species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia."

Yech. That's quite a lineup. Even though the bacteria weren't strong enough to wreak havoc on most people's systems, the fact that they can and do live in soda fountains (and the fact that no one seems to know exactly how they got there, including the study authors) -- is a scary thought indeed.

EDIT

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/01/soda-fountains-fecal-bacteria-contamination-study.html

[The_Commonist]

1. Anybody who doesn't think...

...that they eat shit, piss, bugs, dirt, and other gross things at probably every meal is deluding themselves! We live in a disgusting world, and that's just the way it is...

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

8. Disgusting is a bit strong, but yeah, folks need to accept the reality of nature.

Everytime you take a breath your sucking in bacteria, mold and all shorts of good stuff. On every surface there are zoos of nice critters. Heres what's probably living on you right now:

[tinrobot]

2. Kids eat dirt all the time and survive...

Probably a lot less fecal matter in that soft drink than a mouthful of dirt.

[Po_d Mainiac]

3. And people make fun of me for drinking out of the toilet

Best regards,
The Dog

:hide:

[midnight]

4. Perfect response....

[Jamastiene]

10. ...

:spray:

[ben_thayer]

5. Whatever doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger... eom

:crazy:

[gristy]

6. Oh, brother. This is news?

No mention of concentration. No mention of how prevalent these bacteria are elsewhere in the environment - seems to me they must be everywhere. No mention of what concentration would cause a health problem, or how close the concentrations were to that limit.

:shakes head in dismay:

[hatrack]

11. Tend to agree - I'd be more concerned with all the damned sugar . . .

Gave up pop, oh, decades ago, unless I'm traveling somewhere with bad water supplies.

[Kahuna]

7. Glaaad I don't drink soda.

:scared:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

9. You would think the acid and other stuff in the soda would kill the bacteria

[Kahuna]

12. I worry about that acid killing ME!

:scared: