Coffee machines harbour alarming germs
We know sinks and cutting boards are harbourers of germs, but did you know that your coffee machine could also be housing some serious bacteria?
An investigation by CBS News tested coffee makers in average homes. In a cause for concern, researchers found Streptococcus and E coli in 50 per cent of the machines.
Professor of microbiology Charles Gerba, counters against these findings: "I've seen data on regular drip coffeemakers and the single-serve types, and they tend to be pretty clean," he says. "We tested about five different kinds of single-serve coffeemakers, and I didn't see any issues in terms of bacterial build-up."
This, combined with caffeine and hot water’s anti-bacterial properties might mean we don’t need to worry as much as the CBS study suggests.
Still, we’ll be keeping ours as clean as possible using vinegar as a cleaning solution and throwing out coffee grounds immediately after use.
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