When we order lemonade, water or tea at a restaurant, our glass comes decorated with a slice of lemon. It looks good, but is it really a good idea? According to a shocking study presented in the video below, the lemon slices may be badly contaminated.
The team of Anne LeGrange Loving, a microbiologist at New Jersey University, examined lemon slices collected in 21 different restaurants. It turned out that 77% of the lemons were contaminated with bacteria, often originating from feces, and these bacteria present a serious danger to our health.
The main cause, it seems, is poor hygiene practices of restaurant employees. Most of them don’t use gloves or food tongs when handling lemon slices. As the fruit is prepared with bare hands and the slicing knives are often the same ones that are used to cut meat, the presence of bacteria is not a mystery at all.