A month ago, the BBC program, Watchdog, released a chapter on samples of fecal residues in the cold drinks of three multinational coffee growers in the United Kingdom. Now, as a continuation of the theme, the television program once again found fecal bacteria in the ice at McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken –KFC– and Burger King in the same country.
Samples from 10 companies with branches in the United Kingdom revealed the presence of this bacterium known as fecal coliform in three samples from McDonald’s, six from Burger King and seven from KFC. Of those samples, four from Burger King and five from KFC had «significant» levels of said bacteria.
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According to the UK government department that sets safety standards, Defra, these levels of faecal contamination should not be present in water used for human consumption. In the words of Tony Lewis, head of education at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, «It’s extremely concerning. When we find these numbers in the samples, it has to go to the people who make the ice, who run the ice, and who they’re passing them on to drink customers. And you also have to address the potential hygienic failure of the machines themselves: are they being kept clean?»
Faced with these results, McDonald’s announced in this regard: «It is good to know that Escherichia coli –E. coli–, the bacterium that is considered the most accurate indicator of fecal contamination, was not found in any of the ice samples from the restaurants in McDonald’s Other types of indicators of bacteria, coliforms, and enterococci were found at low levels These can be used as an assessment of water hygiene, but because they are widely distributed in the natural environment, they are not reliable indicators of potential health risks .» While KFC expressed being «shocked and extremely disappointed» by the results, establishing new and stricter safety processes in each of its products.
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