There's a surprising number of things that can go wrong with ice, starting with fecal
bacteria and getting no better from there. No matter how much you love a frosty soda
or a chilled martini, these are all the reasons to skip the ice next time you order a drink.
No one wants to even think about the word "fecal" at the same time they're thinking
about their food, but when it comes to ice, well, you have to go there.
In 2017, the BBC released the results of an investigation into three major coffee shop
chains: Starbucks, Costa, and Caffè Nero. When they tested their iced water, they found
that some samples from every chain contained coliform bacteria, which is, essentially,
poop bacteria.
Experts said it was definitely a reason to be concerned, and foodborne pathogen expert
-- put it this way:
"I would certainly think twice about eating something which may contain fecal contamination
at that level, where it is detectable."
It's not just at coffee chains, either. Another BBC study found similar levels of contamination
in the ice at KFC, McDonald's, and Burger King. You might never be able to un-know that,
and maybe that's a good thing.
Mold in the ice machine
NewAir says there's a popular misconception about ice machines that makes them particularly
dangerous: the widespread belief that since they're so cold, bacteria and mold won't grow.
But they can actually be a breeding ground for mold.
According to QBR Refrigeration, they see moldy, slimy ice machines way more often than any
restaurant customer would ever want to think about. Part of their job is giving those machines
a good cleaning, and they say that by the time they get there, they're usually filled
with black, greasy slime, or pink, moldy sludge.
The most commonly disgusting place, they say, is the ice cavity at the chute. This means
every drink served can be contaminated with ice that's been run through a moldy machine.
That mold is essentially a vehicle for the bacteria that can make people very sick.
Experts say that while having a dirty ice machine is a serious health code violation,
they're also notoriously hard to clean and not frequently inspected.
Since this is a food-related issue, you'd think the FDA would be involved in implementing
all the rules and regulations needed to make sure ice is safe. But here's the thing: The
FDA does regulate packaged ice — the sort you pick up at the store for your cooler.
There's a huge but here: They don't regulate or inspect the ice made by bars, restaurants,
and other food service establishments.
And that's weird. According to Food Safety Magazine, articles about the presence of fecal
bacteria in ice were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association as far
back as the 1950s.
It's taken the FDA and the CDC decades to catch up on any kind of regulation. Even into
the 21st century, FDA regulations on the cleaning of ice-making equipment in the food industry
simply states that machines need to be cleaned at a frequency specified by the manufacturer.
"How can people know whether they're getting clean ice or not?"
"In a restaurant? They definitely can't."
Ice machines are sneaky and there's a ton of ways a bin can become contaminated with
nastiness and bacteria. Some aren't even very obvious — machines have a tendency to accumulate
dust and even yeast present in the air.
If water isn't drained often and completely replaced, it's super easy for sludgy slime
to start building up. Ice machines have all kinds of nooks and crannies that are difficult
to clean.
Also, have you ever seen employees dumping fresh ice into a cooler or a soda machine?
How long do you think they've been doing that without completely emptying and cleaning that
machine? It's a recipe for disaster.
Food Safety Magazine adds that poor food handling and sanitation practices is one of the most
common ways ice gets contaminated, and that includes being touched by employees not properly
washing their hands.
According to a study by Michigan State University, only about 5.3 percent of nearly 4,000 people
observed washed their hands for the recommended 15 seconds or more.
"This is the worst."
You've probably seen those old-timey movies where alcohol is used as an antiseptic. But
here's the thing: It's not going to work on the bacteria in and on the ice in your drink.
Science says so.
A study from the Annals of Microbiology looked at this precise thing. They started by taking
60 samples of ice cubes from a variety of sources, including private homes, commercial
food service, and industrial settings.
They were able to isolate 52 different strains of bacteria, and then tested them with various
liquors and mixers to see if any were capable of killing any of the bacteria present.
Results were mixed. Many microorganisms survive a bath in mixers like peach tea, Coke, and
tonic water. The only liquid that was able to kill all the bacteria was whiskey.
In 2006, NBC News reported on a heartbreaking story that involved a healthy 15-year-old
boy who played a round of golf at a tournament and was dead the next morning from norovirus.
The source for his death was the ice in a cooler of drinking water given to the golfers.
Dozens of people got sick, and health officials said the root cause was most likely an employee
who hadn't washed their hands before handling the ice. NBC spoke with microbiologist Debra
Huffman , and found there's a few reasons why contaminated ice is a huge problem.
Huffman says that there's no smell to contamination, and you can't see it. So the people who are
carrying it don't know they're depositing dangerous microorganisms into ice.
There's also a tendency for staff not to think of ice as food, making them less strict when
it comes to hygiene practices than they would be about standard food. It's an oversight
that can be downright deadly.
When we start talking about the bacteria and viruses that are carried by ice and have the
potential to cause food poisoning, we're not just talking about the kind that's introduced
after someone makes a trip to the bathroom and then doesn't wash their hands.
Food Safety Magazine says we're also talking about things like Salmonella, E. coli, and
norovirus.
They're all a big deal. Norovirus has been called the most infectious agent ever studied
in humans, and that's pretty terrifying stuff for a few different reasons. The freezing
cold temperatures found in ice machines aren't going to kill bacteria or viruses, and it's
not going to make them inactive, either.
Microorganisms can survive quite happily in freezing temperatures and inside ice cubes.
Only a few particles can do some serious damage, so you can imagine that it doesn't take much
for an ice machine or cooler contaminated by a single person to cause an outbreak.
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