Ice machines can easily become one of the most neglected appliances in any restaurant, a transmitter for grime and bacteria into your drink.
Ice in six out of ten restaurants has more bacteria than water from toilets -McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Starbucks, Cafe Rouge and Nandos tested -Ice from branches had higher levels of bacteria in ice than toilet samples -Experts say it could be down to toilets cleaned more often than ice machines -Four samples contained enough microbes to be ‘hygiene risk’
It is easy to forget ice can carry bacteria because they think it is too cold for germs, but that is far from the truth. Nasty bugs such as E.coli can lurk in ice machines. In some cases, such as Nando’s, we found double the amount of bacteria we would expect to find [in drinking water]. This is caused by things such as a failure to clean machines and scoops used by staff.
The samples were tested for pathogens and their total bacteria counts at 22C and 37C. Higher counts at 37C are often associated with contamination by human or animal contact, such as meat in the kitchen. Raised 22C counts are usually due to environmental organisms and can indicate a failure to clean ice machines.
Scientists say there is a satisfactory level of bacteria that can be higher than that found in toilet water. The ice quality at Starbucks and Cafe Rouge fell into this category.
https://www.medicaldaily.com/beijing-ice-machines-teeming-bacteria-us-fast-food-ice-contaminated-toilet-water-too-247953
ref - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2334533/Ice-restaurants-bacteria-water-toilets.html
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