If you're a fan of ice drinks at Starbucks, you may just want to pretend you never heard this news.
The BBC's consumer-affairs Watchdog found fecal bacteria in the ice of Starbucks and two other coffee chains in the UK. Not only that, but they also found that the level of bacteria found in the ice was "concerning."
Three out of 10 samples of ice collected at Starbucks contained the fecal bacteria, the BBC reports.
"These should not be present at any level — never mind the significant numbers found," Tony Lewis, head of policy at The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, told the BBC.
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Starbucks is now conducting their own investigation into the cleanliness of the tested store.
Still, that doesn't mean all hope is lost for your refreshing Starbucks iced coffee. It was only Starbucks in the UK that was tested. While that doesn't rule out the possibility that Starbucks in the US could also have a fecal bacteria problem, it also doesn't mean that they definitely do.
Fecal bacteria could have easily gotten into the ice due to one employee who didn't wash their hands after using the bathroom, so this report isn't telling of Starbucks' cleanliness overall.
And, to be honest, it's not even all that shocking that fecal matter could end up in the ice. As Phillip M. Tierno, a microbiologist at New York University and the author of The Secret Life of Germs, once told Science Of Us, “We, as a society, are literally bathed in feces,” Tierno said
So, for now, we're pretty comfortable saying it's safe to still go out for a grande iced caramel macchiato.
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