You might want to avoid the touchscreens at McDonald’s
Things that make you go ewwwww…Traces of faeces have been found on McDonald’s touchscreens swabbed in an investigation by metro.co.uk.
Samples were taken from machines at six McDonald’s restaurants on London and two in Birmingham – every one of them had coliforms. A screen at one branch had staphylococcus, a bacteria that can cause blood poisoning and toxic shock syndrome.
Listeria bacteria was found in the Oxford Street and Holloway Road, London branches. This can cause listeriosis which can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.
Senior lecturer in microbiology at London Metropolitan University Dr Paul Matewele said: ‘We were all surprised how much gut and faecal 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.”
A McDonald’s spokesman said: “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.”
