Slime in the ice machine!!!
By mckenziemom
@mckenziemom (523)
United States
March 15, 2007 6:34pm CST
Have you ever heard this phrase before? I heard it a lot growing up in Houston Texas in the eighties. There was a newscaster(Marvin Zindler) that went every week to the City of Houston health department to get copies of the health inspection reports from different restaurants in the city.
He would always be sure to announce the places that had "slime in the ice machines" That meant that if you drank a soda from that establishment you probably got some nasty stuff in your cold soda.
Anway, this all came back to me as I saw a news story about a young girl who as part of a science experiment who took samples from restaurant surfaces,bathrooms and ice bins to test for bacteria. What she found out was that there was a substantially larger amount of bacteria found in the ice bins!! Also the strains of bacteria found were likely to make you very sick. Essentially the restrooms proved to be less hazardous than the ice from ice bins!! Apparently, bacteria grows in ice bins from contact with unclean hands
and unsanitaized containers and utensils.
Since then I have made a conscious effort to order my drink with out the ice!! What about you? Do you trust that restaurants and its employees are following health code guidelines and providing safe bacteria-free beverages?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
15 Mar 07
I get ice in my drinks, I have not gotten sick. I am not going to change now, there are just too many things to worry about, I refuse to add a 20+ year old problem in a city across the country to my list.
@mckenziemom (523)
• United States
16 Mar 07
Actually the point of the post is that is was a problem 20 years ago AND it is still a current health problem today in restaurants all over the country.I imagine there are restaurant employees all over the country that do not wash their hands before serving us our food and drinks.
I'm not taking any chances..its no ice for me when I eat at restaurants.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
16 Mar 07
I have eaten out 3 times this year, today being the 3rd time. I just refuse to worry about it.
I was in England, about 25 years ago, it was Early december, outside of a butcher shop were turkeys hanging waiting to be purchased. No one was worried about refrigerating them, they were just there.
I ate to say it, but maybe if were exposed to more, our immune systems would be healthier. I will continue to use ice in my drinks.
1 person likes this
@Julia3269 (217)
• United States
15 Mar 07
The restrooms often have an hourly check schedule for cleanliness and all sorts of disinfectants are used.
Ice machines and bins should be cleaned and sanitized regularly but there is rarely a schedule for that activity.
Remember bacteria are everywhere - absolutely everywhere. Most are benign and harmless. We eat them everyday. lol!
The slime and mold buildup in ice machines is a problem in all restaurants that rarely clean the machines.
But I would be more concerned with the iced tea dispensers because some of the worst goop grows in that nozzle.
@mckenziemom (523)
• United States
16 Mar 07
Good point about the ice tea dispensers. Actually, all of the soda dispensers if not cleaned properly, can pose a health hazard. But think about it, if you serve say 100 people in a restaurant in a day you could safely say that 90% of those people are going to order a soda and they could be exposed to contaminated ice containing harmful bacteria..how many of those people are gonna use the restroom?
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
15 Mar 07
That is disgusting. I believe at too many places the employees are not following the guidlines. Thanks for this post, I will not get ice anymore, it's not worth paying money to get sick.
1 person likes this
@mckenziemom (523)
• United States
15 Mar 07
Isn't this terrible? It sure was a wake up call for me!!I know that managers have so many issues to take care of ..I imagine that the cleanliness of their ice bins is not a high priority!!
