Here is what is really scary....
.. what is really scary is that they mix important things with pure alarmist non-sense. Cutting raw chicken in the same wood board as preparing a salad? That is serious. That is important.
But those amazing 12 thousand bacteria? Do you know what 12 thousand bacteria mean? NOTHING. OR CLOSE TO NOTHING. Unless you are talking about Shigella or E.coli O147 (which are almost identical as far as their genes are concerned, and equally dangerous from a pathogenic point of view), 12 thousand bacteria of most types, even pathogenic ones, are not going to cause disease to HEALTHY NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS. If an individual is immunocompromised, it's another story, but the article is clearly geared to the general population.
throughout the article the author tries to tone things down with statements like "not all bacteria are harmful" . Of course, people will completely disregard the fact that those Salmonella found in the ice were not identified to the level of sub-species and I would bet a lot of cash that they were not human pathogens. There are thousands of types of Salmonella, many are harmless or have a very high infective oral dose.
There are more bacterial cells in our noses and mouths and skin than in any ice machine, no matter how dirty.
I am not defending the practice of restaurants that disregard common laws of hygiene - but pleeeeease, let's not go into paranoia-mode! People are not dropping as flies after eating meals in restaurants - I am a lot more weary of going on a cruise smileys/wink.gif