Student finds toilet water cleaner than ice at fast food restaurants

[Queasy]

Link

New Tampa, Florida - 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts is a seventh-grade student at Benito Middle School in New Tampa.

When it came time for her to choose a science project, she wondered about the ice in fast food restaurants.

Jasmine Roberts, 7th-grade student:
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

So Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida.

Roberts says at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, the used sterile gloves to gather samples.

Jasmine Roberts:
"Using the sterile beaker I scooped up some water and closed the lid."

Roberts also collected ice from soda fountains inside the five fast food restaurants. She also asked for cups of ice at the same restaurant's drive thru windows.

She tested the samples at a lab at the Moffitt Cancer Center where she volunteers with a USF professor. Roberts says the results did not surprise her.

Jasmine Roberts:
"I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant's contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant's toilet water."

Roberts' graph shows the toilet water, shown in red, had less bacteria in most cases than the ice inside shown in blue, and the ice from drive-through windows shown in green. Roberts' teacher says he wasn't surprised either.

Mark Danish, Honors Science Teacher:
"It does concern me and I think with any restaurant you have to think twice about what you may get there."

Roberts says she'll think twice before getting ice at fast food restaurants again.

Her project won the science fair at Benito Middle School, and she hopes to win the top prize at the Hillsborough County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which starts Tuesday at the USF Sun Dome.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Just another reason to avoid fast-food!

 

[Cuda1447]

wtf, why?

 

[BigJ]

More bacteria? Big deal.

Now if they showed what types of bacteria, that'd be a bit more interesting.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Interesting.

 

[PHiuR]

theres more bacteria on our keyboards then on our toilet seats.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
wtf, why?

Areas that are for food preparation or near food preparation have extremely high levels of bacteria. More-so than toilets usually. However, it's what type of bacteria there is in these places which is the big difference.

 

[acemcmac]

wow

 

[dullard]

:roll: That is a horrible science teacher if the student actually thinks that bacteria colony count is the only measurement of cleanliness. I see this all the time - take a filthy item, show that is has little or no bacteria and then proclaim it as being clean. I'm sorry, but dirt without bacteria is still dirty. And bacteria is not all the same.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

I'd like to see her compare those to men's room samples too, because she probably didn't venture in there. Also the specific types of bacteria would have been interesting.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
wtf, why?

When toilets are cleaned, they are sterilized with some kind of alkaline cleaning solution, whether bleach, ammonia, etc. Also, urine is sterile. The only thing you have to worry about is bacteria from fecal matter, but that is often flushed quickly.

Keep in mind that she flushed the water once, then took a sample. That means fresh water from a clean tank. She did not swab the inner surface of the bowl.

Ice on the other hand, is handled a lot, and even thoroughly washed hands have a lot of various bacteria on them. Plus, how often do you think the inside of an ice machine is disinfected? Cold temperatures slow down bacteria, but doesn't kill it, which is why frozen foods last longer but not forever.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
I'd like to see her compare those to men's room samples too, because she probably didn't venture in there. Also the specific types of bacteria would have been interesting.

I dunno. When I worked at a Lowe's in college the women's restrooms were always filthier than the men's restrooms.

Maybe that could be another science experiment or possibly even a Mythbuster episode.

 

[QED]

I bet the bacteria level in the ice is nothing compared to the bacteria level inside of our own intestinal tract-- proof yet again that bacteria count alone doesn't signify whether something is good or bad for you.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: MathMan


I bet the bacteria level in the ice is nothing compared to the bacteria level inside of our own intestinal tract-- proof yet again that bacteria count alone doesn't signify whether something is good or bad for you.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: BigJ
More bacteria? Big deal.

Now if they showed what types of bacteria, that'd be a bit more interesting.

Exactly. She flushed the toilet before collecting. Let the water stand there for a few hours and report back. Bacteria will be growing everywhere.

Also, bacteria is everywhere. If it was salmonella or something, that's bad, but if was just garden variety stuff you get from tap water, big deal.

Bad science.

 

[RiDE]

I love how everybody has this "I'm better than you" attitude just because she made the news. Who cares, it's a freaking 7th grader.

 

[paulxcook]

Bacteria =/= bad. Some bacteria is actually quite good. This is nice for 7th grade science, but it's not going to affect where I get lunch today.

I'm thinking Arby's .

 

[rh71]

what doesn't kill ya....

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Bad science.

Hey guys, now remember, this was her hypothesis:

"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

She did exactly what she needed to do, and the results supported the hypothesis.

That is good science.

Just because you would have had a different hypothesis doesn't make her experiement any less valid.

 

[AdamSnow]

Originally posted by: rh71
what doesn't kill ya....

exactly...

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

She did exactly what she needed to do, and the results supported the hypothesis.

That is good science.

Just because you would have had a different hypothesis doesn't make her experiement any less valid.

Not necessarily. You can easilly do the tests wrong and get an incorrect conclusion to your hypothesis. The whole part about flushing the toilet and taking the clean water is disturbing to me. Why not compare the water that has been sitting in the toilet? That is the water that splashes up on you when you take a dump. It isn't the just flushed clean water that splashes on you (unless you flush before and after you dump).

 

[cubby1223]

Who comes up with an hypothesis before testing that ice contains more bacteria than toilet water? Who would ever think of that out of thin air? Unless it was just a joke experiment that somehow was found true...

 

[littleprince]

The hypothesis is loaded ? Good science should be keeping a neutral mind while seeing if experiments can prove your hypothesis.

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Bad science.

Hey guys, now remember, this was her hypothesis:

"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

She did exactly what she needed to do, and the results supported the hypothesis.

That is good science.

Just because you would have had a different hypothesis doesn't make her experiement any less valid.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: SagaLore
"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

She did exactly what she needed to do, and the results supported the hypothesis.

That is good science.

Just because you would have had a different hypothesis doesn't make her experiement any less valid.

Not necessarily. You can easilly do the tests wrong and get an incorrect conclusion to your hypothesis. The whole part about flushing the toilet and taking the clean water is disturbing to me. Why not compare the water that has been sitting in the toilet? That is the water that splashes up on you when you take a dump. It isn't the just flushed clean water that splashes on you (unless you flush before and after you dump).

I think a lot of women subscribe to the "pre and post" flush school of thought. However, being a man, I can't say for certain.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Bad science.

Hey guys, now remember, this was her hypothesis:

"My hypothesis was that the fast food restaurants? ice would contain more bacteria that the fast food restaurants? toilet water."

She did exactly what she needed to do, and the results supported the hypothesis.

That is good science.

Just because you would have had a different hypothesis doesn't make her experiement any less valid.

but at the expense of giving the fast food joint a bad rep and her point makes no sense to begin with?

My next expriment:

"My hypothesis is there will be more bacteria on the pin of this hand grenade than a freshly picked pineapple."

the amount of bacteria makes hardly any difference. you could get shot with 100 plastic BBs and not die, but if you got shot with a single 50 caliber round you would be a stain on the floor. both are projectiles, but one is harmless. she basically proved that grass is green. unless she is mentally handicapped that experiment is way below a normal 7th grader.