Health Concerns

Your Keurig Is Basically One Humongous Bacteria Colony

Shot of penicillin, anybody?
Shot of penicillin, anybody? Photo: © 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP

According to lab tests, harmful bacteria is coming out of Keurig machines. And while much everything has bacteria crawling on it, the bummer here is which bacteria the CBS affiliates in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Dallas discovered in several dozen machines.

Essentially, Keurigs could enjoy a second life of culturing microbes if they wanted: Lab results showed lots of E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter, as well as others commonly found on human hands, like staph and strep. Enterobacter is a “below the belt” coliform bacteria, an infectious disease specialist told the Dallas station, meaning it comes from the colon. Keurig says any time a machine isn’t used for several days, it needs “several cleansing brews.” Duly noted.

[CBS Pittsburgh]

Your Keurig Is Basically One Humongous Bacteria Colony