Dr Margarita Gomez Escalada studied the sample, taken from a Birmingham KFC restaurant, at Leeds Beckett University.
She told the programme: “We found high levels of bacteria in the ice.
“The presence of faecal coliform suggests that there’s faecal contamination either on the water that made the ice, or the ice itself, and so it increases the risk of getting sick from consuming this ice.”
Dr Margarita Gomez Escalada examined the bacteria samples at Leeds Beckett University
Undercover researchers visited a branch of Costa in Loughborough, the Chicken Cottage in Hampstead, a Café Nero in Bath and the Wimpy in Basildon, as well as the KFC at Martineau Place in Birmingham.
At each location, Rip Off Britain said its researchers asked for a cup of tap water with ice, as this can be an good indicator of standards behind the scenes.
Most of the samples that were taken turned up low and harmless levels of bacteria when tested, Rip Off Britain said.
Dr Escalada said: “It’s really hard to say how the faecal bacteria got to the ice that we tested. The thing I think is most likely is that it got there through manipulation. So someone touched the ice and their hands weren’t particularly clean.”
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