McDonald's Touchscreens test positive for traces of human poo

In an investigation by The Metro, every swab taken from touchscreens at McDonald’s restaurants contained traces of gut and faecal germs, as well as other highly contagious and harmful forms of bacteria.

The investigation sampled touchscreens at eight McDonald’s restaurants. This included six in London and two in Birmingham.

The cause of the bacteria spreading is thought to be from customers not washing their hands.

The samples were analysed by Scientists at London Metropolitan University.

Senior lecturer in microbiology at London Metropolitan University Dr Paul Matewele told the Metro, “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.”"Seeing Staphylococcus on these machines is worrying because it is so contagious,” added Dr Matewele.

“It starts around people’s noses, if they touch their nose with their fingers and then transfer it to the touchscreen someone else will get it, and if they have an open cut which it gets into, then it can be dangerous.”

Staphylococcus is also known to cause toxic shock. ‘

The news comes after poo bacteria was recently found in ice and drinks at JD Wetherspoon, Slug & Lettuce, Harvester, Hungry Horse and Marston’s Two For One restaurants.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s 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.”