Bacteria linked to feces found on soda fountains

[Stevyn]

source: http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/ne ... lcPWw.cspx

If you're chugging a soda from a fast food joint, you may want to put it down and read this.

A team of microbiologists from Hollins University found that 48% of the sodas they tested from fast food soda fountains had coliform bacteria, according to Tom Laskawy, a media and technology professional and blogger for grist.org.

Coliform is typically fecal in origin.

On top of that, the study found that most of the bacteria were resistant to antibiotics.

The team tested 90 beverages from 30 fountains, and published their findings in the International Journal of Food Microbiology.

Here is an excerpt from the abstract:

"...Coliform bacteria was detected in 48% of the beverages and 20% had a heterotrophic plate count greater than 500 cfu/ml. [...] More than 11% of the beverages analyzed contained Escherichia coli [E. Coli] and over 17% contained Chryseobacterium meningosepticum. Other opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms isolated from the beverages included species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia. Most of the identified bacteria showed resistance to one or more of the 11 antibiotics tested."

Lawasky made sure to note that there has been only one recorded outbreak linked to soda fountains, and that was 10 years ago.

But, the bacteria could cause sickness that could go unreported and therefore never linked to soda fountains.

You can read the abstract or purchase the report here:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

[Alexander Mundy]

Perhaps I misunderstood;

I took the report to mean that the bacteria were found IN the beverages, themselves.

I figure it must be coming out of the lines which connect the fountain to the mixer/ syrup/ carbonation tanks.

Problem, in my mind, being that the pH of average soft drink is above 9 which would mean that there is HUGE #'s of the bacteria in order for that many to live after having been exposed to an environment w/ pH of 9.

Until now, I thought soft drinks w/o ice were safe due to the pH.

The ice is a common source of pollutants.

WWotS; water's supposed to be a clear, odorless, tasteless fluid; right?

Ever wonder how tap water from various cities could have different tastes and be judged as better or worse tasting?

http://www.berkeleysprings.com/water/awards.htm

Well, it turns out that tap water can have ALL KINDS of POLLUTANTS, but no contaminants. Shows you what a bunch of assholes control our drinking water supplies.

I use one of these religiously:


http://www.brita.com/products/water-dis ... /ultramax/

[Stevyn]

yep, the lines were bad, i bet it is the same for beer taps at bars.

i gota get my brita filter working, i just unpacked it from storage.