Recent years have brought a lot of reports about ice produced by ice cube machines in bars and restaurants and home ice makers. The results of the samples are chilling. The samples have more bacteria than the water found in toilets. Daily Mail was one of the news websites publishing this hideous information. In 2013, it conducted an independent analysis of ice samples obtained from the most popular fast food restaurants. It turned out that both the pub and restaurant samples and the home samples contained a sizeable number of harmful microorganisms. The bacteria found include those from the Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter genera and Staphylococcus group.
Experts agree on one thing: the presence of bacteria in ice is due to human negligence during ice production, lack of knowledge, infrequent and inadequate cleaning of equipment, the use of inadequately prepared water in domestic conditions, and failure to follow basic hygiene rules.
In most of the articles we reviewed, including the Daily Mail article cited above, the experts agreed on one thing: the presence of bacteria in ice is primarily due to improperly cleaned ice-making machines.