Report: Poop Bacteria Discovered in Starbucks, Other Chain Iced Drinks in the U.K
You might want to nix your iced coffee fix this summer -- at least if you're taking a trip to the U.K. anytime soon.
A BBC investigation discovered that iced drinks from coffee chains Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero all had various levels of bacteria found in feces in the ice.
One expert from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Tony Lewis, called the findings "concerning," saying that "these should not be present at any level." The investigation is going to air on BBC One Wednesday night at 8 p.m. U.K. time.
The BBC reports seven out of the 10 ice samples from Costa had bacteria found in feces, while Starbucks and Caffe Nero had bacteria called "fecal coliforms" in just three out of 10 samples.
Starbucks is starting its own investigation, saying that the company takes hygiene "extremely seriously," and Caffe Nero too is launching its own investigation.
A Daily Mail investigation from 2013 found that ice in six out of 10 restaurants in Britain contained more bacteria than toilet water -- specifically Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Cafe Rouge and Nando's. In this case, these samples weren't immediately dangerous, though were referred to as a "hygiene risk."
In Starbucks' case, there was "more bacteria in ice than toilets but within laboratory hygiene guidelines," reported the Daily Mail at the time.
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David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com.
