The researchers recommended greater surveillance and regulation around soda fountains
Researchers from Loma Linda University in a recent study said that your local fast-food soda fountain may be contaminated with coliform bacteria, an indicator of water impurity. The study further said that the water was contaminated with the deadliest "superbug" germs.
Superbug germs including antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Campylobacter jejuni, as well as listeria, salmonella and E. coli were found, the New York Post reported.
The study, published in August in the journal Drinking Water claims that these disease-causing germs were found in almost half of soda fountains. They also found germs in 80 % of swabs from the taps of soda fountains 50 % of restaurant tap water and 20 % of water-vending machines.
The study calls into question the sanitation and maintenance of water from soda fountains, which rely on government and manufacturer standards.
"We cannot say that soda fountain contamination is only in the eastern Coachella Valley," Thomas Hile, a researcher affiliated with Loma Linda and the study's lead author, told USA TODAY. "It's a general problem that I believe is overlooked."
This is not the first time health risks at fast-food soda fountains have been uncovered.
Last year, maggots and worms were found by customers in a McDonald's dipping sauce dispenser and in its soda machine, according to the New York Post.
A pregnant woman also found maggots at the bottom of her Coke Zero she got from McDonald's.
"The presence of pathogenic microorganisms in drinking water is a serious public health concern and cannot be overemphasized," the authors wrote in their study, published in the journal Water Supply.
The researchers recommended greater surveillance and regulation around soda fountains at fast-food restaurants and water vending machines.