Tasty.

[greasywheels121]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...IVING/603240315

 

Girl's ice project becomes hot topic

By Melissa Mixon

USA Today

 

Jasmine Roberts usually starts her days like most 12-year-olds do, but that all changed in the past month or so.

 

For weeks, even before heading to school, Jasmine fielded questions posed by reporters from as far away as Canada and Australia.

 

Her father, Justus, says the interviews have been good training. They have helped his little girl prepare for the big one: from the judges at Florida's state science fair competition on April 19.

 

The seventh-grader at Benito Middle School in Tampa conducted a winning science fair experiment that found that ice at some fast-food restaurants contains more bacteria than water from toilets.

 

Jasmine's findings have landed her on "Good Morning America" and CNN, and she has some observers thinking twice about that ice.

 

Her project compared ice samples from self-serve machines and drive-thru windows at five mainstream fast-food eateries in South Florida to samples of water from toilets at the same restaurants.

 

Laboratory tests performed at the University of South Florida, where Jasmine volunteers for a professor, found that the toilet water contained fewer bacteria than the ice 70 percent of the time.

 

Three of the five ice samples tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, bacteria that comes from mammal feces.

 

Every year when the science fair rolls around, Jasmine's father tells her and her 18-year-old brother, Justus Jr., to do a project that will have an impact on society. But the impact has also been on Jasmine, who says she does not go to fast-food restaurants anymore.

 

"I was disgusted, because I would eat that ice," she says.

 

Jasmine is keeping the names of the restaurants confidential, but she says she has talked with their managers and owners.

 

Daniel Lim, a microbiology professor at USF and Jasmine's mentor in the project, says the results are not surprising.

 

"Keep in mind, the source of toilet water is the same as the ice. Toilets are routinely flushed, so you probably don't have many bacteria," he says. He adds that the ice could have picked up bacteria from its handlers and containers.

 

Lim says people should not be "overly alarmed," because it takes a lot more bacteria to cause disease.

 

His advice to fast-food diners: "Be alert to make sure whatever we eat or drink has been handled properly."

[WHarris1]

Uhhhhhhh :puke

[SnB]

i ice

[3E8]

I thought bacteria couldn't survive in freezing temperatures.

[TheBlackSox8]

I thought bacteria couldn't survive in freezing temperatures.

i thought it was boiling temperatures....that's why you boil water. no??

[3E8]

Yeah I thought both those things would kill bacteria.

[Iwritecode]

We probably end up with more bacteria in our bodies just by breathing...

[iWiN4PreP]

intresting.

[greasywheels121]

Did you know one of your right eye is set lower than the left eye? It's nothing serious, but I just thought you'd like to be self-conscious for the rest of your life.

 

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I have no idea if this is a big deal or not, but I just found it interesting when I came across it.

[NorthSideSox72]

Yeah I thought both those things would kill bacteria.

Depends on the bacteria. There are some bacteria that like to live in the ice flows of the arctic. There are also bacteria that live solely in hot springs or near heat vents on the ocean floor, both of which are very very hot.

 

Boiling water, at sea level boiling temps, will kill most bacteria from water that would cause problems for humans. But even that is not 100% reliable. This I know from experience.