Some Truly Queasy News About Soda Fountains

Before you go back for another refill on your beloved Diet Coke, you may want to stop and think for a second. A report published in the January print edition of the International Journal of Food Microbiology reveals a rather startling statistic about what else is pumping out of all those soda fountains in all your favorite fast food joints.

Researchers found “coliform” bacteria in 48% of the 27 drinks from soda fountains, also including water. In case you were lightly dosing in biology class (hey, it was 5th period), “coliform bacteria” basically means — poop.

Okay, if you wanted to really freak yourself out:

“Other opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms isolated from the beverages included species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia.”

I just picked the first one in that list to look up, Kebsiella, and it can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and septicemia, which is blood poisoning! Wheeee!

I know what you’re thinking, that I’m being like Julianne Moore in Safe, I’m losing my noodle, germs and chemicals are everywhere! And we’ve all had enough soda at those soda fountains over our lifetime and probably most of us didn’t get sick. But, there’s the other side of this, that LA Times writer Amina Khan smartly brings up:

“Then again, the type of restaurant where you’d typically be getting a drink from a soda fountain might not be especially healthful either.”

Yes, chances are you are eating in a fast food restaurant or an establishment serving mostly processed food, and are consuming many other unhealthful products along with your bacteria-filled Fanta.

And don’t forget about that high fructose corn syrup in your soda. Recent studies have found mercury in HFCS, and its links to obesity have set off debates between nutritionists and nutritionists … working for the beverage industry.

It slips into lots of drinks and foods and, “because the amount of soda we drink has more than doubled since 1970 to about 56 gallons per person a year so has the amount of high fructose corn syrup we take in.”

Just lay off those fountain drinks!