During a recent episode of BBC One's Rip Off Britain (Food), a reality tv show featuring stories of people being ripped off by businesses, a team of researchers were shocked to discover that the ice from a local Kentucky Fried Chicken contained "high levels" of bacteria commonly found in feces.
"The presence of fecal coliform suggests that there's fecal contamination either on the water that made the ice, or the ice itself," said Dr. Margarita Gomez Escalada, who analyzed samples for the show at Leeds Beckett University. "So it increases the risk of getting sick from consuming this ice."
While most coliform bacteria are not necessarily dangerous, their presence is widely accepted as a reliable indicator to whether or not food or water can be considered sanitary and suitable for consumption. The most well-known, harmful form of coliform is E.coli. Exposure to water with a high concentration of fecal coliform is also sometimes linked to dysentery, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A.
In response to the BBC's discovery, KFC attempted to get ahead of the situation, promising that they were launching an internal investigation as well as going over hygiene protocol with employees.