A new study by a consumer affairs program found some pretty disturbing germs in the iced drinks at three major British coffee companies, including Starbucks. The study was undertaken by the British Broadcasting Company in association with their show “Watchdog,” and it found that a percentage of sampled iced beverages “tested positive for fecal coliforms,” or in layman’s terms, poop germs.
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According to the Walksman Foundation for Microbiology, fecal coliforms are found in the “digestive tracts of all warm-blooded animals,” and if high numbers of the bacteria are present, “one may conclude that there has been recent fecal contamination.”
Starbucks and Cafe Nero each tested positive in three out of 10 samples, while Costa (another U.K. coffee chain) tested positive for fecal bacteria in a whopping seven out of 10 samples. An expert in the country told the network, “These should not be present at any level — never mind the significant numbers found,” adding that they represent “opportunistic pathogens, the source of human disease.” Starbucks announced that they are conducting an investigation into the study and claimed that they take the claims “very seriously.”