Posted on 11/29/2018 9:51:00 AM PST by Louis Foxwell
Scientists Just Found Something Absolutely Shocking on These McDonald's Self-Order Touchscreens The discovery of fecal bacteria on McDonald's self-order touchscreens is raising concern about their safety. By Peter EconomyThe Leadership Guy @bizzwriter CREDIT: Getty Images
Fast-food giant McDonald's has been rolling out touchscreen self-order kiosks in its restaurants for the past several years. While they make ordering your Big Mac, fries, and chocolate shake more efficient and accurate (and they're actually kind of fun), yesterday scientists revealed that they found something on those touchscreens that should be of tremendous concern for McDonald's customers.
Bacteria.
But not just any kind of bacteria -- fecal and other bacteria from human digestive tracts that could cause all sorts of health problems for someone who happens to ingest the living organisms.
Traces of poo and potentially deadly bacteria found in McDonald's https://t.co/nQkdf6ZIEs pic.twitter.com/Ee13aRNLby -- The Sun (@TheSun) November 29, 2018
According to Dr. Paul Matewele, a senior lecturer in microbiology at London Metropolitan University:
We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines. These cause the kind of infections that people pick up in hospitals. For instance Enterococcus faecalis is part of the flora of gastrointestinal tracts of healthy humans and other mammals. It is notorious in hospitals for causing hospital acquired infections.
In addition to fecal bacteria, the scientists also found staphylococcus, listeria, klebsiella, and proteus bacteria, all of which can cause illness in humans.
The samples were gathered by the U.K. newspaper Metro from eight different McDonald's restaurants in England -- six in London and two in Birmingham -- and then analyzed by Dr. Matewele and his team. Shockingly, touchscreens in every one of the restaurants had bacteria, often virulent, living on them.
And as touchscreens become a greater presence in our lives, the problem is likely to get even worse. Says Dr. Matewele:
Touchscreen technology is being used more and more in our daily lives but these results show people should not eat food straight after touching them, they are unhygienic and can spread disease. Someone can be very careful about their own hygiene throughout the day but it could all be undone by using a touchscreen machine once.
According to a McDonald's statement, the company is careful to routinely clean the touchscreens to avoid problems such as those revealed by Dr. Matewele:
Our self-order screens are cleaned frequently throughout the day. All of our restaurants also provide facilities for customers to wash their hands before eating.
If you're not loving the idea of coming in contact with one or more of the listed bacteria, then consider bypassing the kiosks altogether and ordering the old fashioned way -- at the register with a real, live person. Published on: Nov 29, 2018
[[ We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines.]]
Well dog-gonit, move the touch screen out of the bathrooms then. j/k
This is why I always try to use my knuckles, NOT fingertips.
I’m less likely to spread disease and less likely to get it by my mouth.
Kinda blends right in there.
Fecal bacteria can be found on everything used by the public - shopping carts, door handles, and don’t get started on subway straps.
Why they are they picking on McDonalds?
crappy meals with a free prize... Ecoli
[[This is why I always try to use my knuckles,]]
Knuckle-dragger
“We were all surprised how much gut and fecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines.”
Well just think of all the gut and crap bacteria that are on the fingers preparing the meal...
Likewise anything else all the world toucjes.
When in college I worked in a corporate biochemistry lab. My boss had a beef (pun) with the corporate cafeteria, so he had me take surface cultures from all sorts of different surfaces in the cafeteria— serving trays, dishes (ostensibly cleaned) chairs, floors, door handles, pretty much anywhere I could stick a contact dish.
The results were what WE expected, but absolutely scared the crap out of the staff.
We found most every ‘pathogen’ known to human kind (short of plague) growing somewhere in the cafeteria.
Serving trays were the most, ahem, bio-diverse. Floors were the cleanest, we think due to the biocides in the floor cleaners.
If anyone cares to scan thru the replies
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3709173/posts
128 replies
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3709011/posts
99 replies
thankfully though our systems are mostly capable of fighting off infections- but every now and again, we get too much for our systems to handle, but it’s not really that common to do so-
Finger in mouth ,Hmm thinking , touch screen ,Hmm finger back in mouth thinking ,LOL
Not that I approve of poop on my menu, but traditional menus are a host for bacteria and poop too.
I eat at home. The only micky-D’s I’ve had in recent years were caramel frappes. I guess I’ll make mine at home now....
Why don’t restaurants optionally front-end customer orders with smart phones in addition to public touchscreens? GPS could make sure that person placing order is in the store.
Big deal. Test the shopping cart handles and baby seats in them.
Like those Dyson air blade hand dryers that vaporize urine and fecal bacteria for convenient breathing in the restroom.
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