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Starbucks is trending for a poop-related reason and Twitter says NOPE

Why, oh why?!?

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on June 28, 2017

Thinking of getting a refreshing iced coffee from Starbucks to beat the heat?

Think twice after reading this.

A BBC Watchdog investigation uncovered significant traces of faecal bacteria in ice from three of UK's high street chains -- Costa Coffee, Starbucks, and Caffe Nero.

In other words, there's poop in your "Freshly brewed Starbucks® Iced Coffee Blend served chilled and lightly sweetened over ice."

Experts swabbed tables, trays, and high chairs in 30 branches as well as collecting samples of the ice used in their drinks.

Faecal coliforms are bacteria which contain "opportunistic pathogens -- the source of human disease," according to expert Tony Lewis. They were found in 3 of 10 samples tested at both Starbucks and Caffe Nero.

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In Costa, 7 out of 10 samples contained poop bacteria.

"The level of contamination of faecal bacteria concerns me a great deal," Lewis, of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said. "The bacteria found are opportunistic pathogens -- the source of human disease. These should not be present at any level -- never mind the significant numbers found."

People reacted with shock and irony:

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All three coffee chains said they've taken action:

Starbucks:

We want to reassure our customers that we take hygiene and cleanliness extremely seriously. We have moved quickly to conduct our own investigation into the claims. All employees nationwide have received updated training on our high standards of hygiene including ice handling. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our customers.

Costa:

We were disappointed with the findings, especially as these stores are all rated Very Good with the top Hygiene Rating of 5. It is extremely important to us that all our stores operate to high standards of hygiene at all times and we take it very seriously when any store fails to meet these standards. We adopt industry standard cleaning processes across all our stores, in line with the Food Standard Agency’s advice. Following these results we took immediate action to review our food safety procedures and have updated our ice handling guidelines and are in the process of introducing new ice equipment storage across our estate.

Caffe Nero: