If you thought fast food cheeseburgers and fries were bad for you, take a closer look at the ice cubes. Twelve-year-old Jasmine Roberts of Tampa, FL did just that with disturbing results. In a supreme feat of pre-adolescent scientific discovery, Roberts concluded that the ice at five local fast food restaurants is laden with bacteria. Lots of bacteria.

Roberts took ice samples (found in self-serve dispensers and in pre-poured drinks) from the restaurants as well samples of toilet water from each establishment.

The toilet bowl water was cleaner 70 percent of the time.

I repeat, the toilet bowl water was cleaner 70 percent of the time.

Roberts was even shocked at the results. “I thought there might be a little bacteria in the ice, but I never expected it to be this much. And I never thought the toilet water would be cleaner,” she told Tampa Bay Online.

Among the bacteria found in the ice was fecal coliform or E. coli, which stems only from the feces of warm-blooded animals.

[Tampa Bay Online via MSNBC]

Image: sptimes.com