Fast food ice vs. toilet water

Jasmine Roberts, a 7th grade student at Benito Middle School in Tampa, Florida, examined the amount of bacteria in ice served at fast food restaurants as part of her science fair project. She compared the amount of bacteria in the ice with the amount of bacteria in the toilet water of the same restaurant.

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

She was right.

Jasmine tested ice from the self-serve dispensers inside 5 fast food restaurants, as well as ice from drinks served at the drive through. She also collected samples from those restaurants' toilet bowls.

She found that the ice that came from the self-serve machines had more bacteria than the toilet water at 4 of the 5 restaurants. 3 of the 5 cups of ice from the drive-through windows had more bacteria than the toilet water.

When ask if the project will change her fast food ordering habits, Jasmine said, "After this, I definitely don't get ice." [Tampa Bay News]