McDonald’s customers often feel that a McDonald’s fountain Coca-Cola is better than other fountain Cokes. Why is this? First, I can tell you that McDonald’s fountain Coke is not likely to be liked better than a cold Coca-Cola straight out of the bottle or can, without ice. Ice is the key. It is rumored that McDonald’s gets a “special syrup base” Coke fountain drinks. This is not true. It’s what they do with the syrup that is different. Here are the key differences.
Potential Reasons McDonald’s Fountain Coca-Cola Is Better
- McDonald’s uses a higher syrup to water ratio. More syrup means a stronger Coca-Cola with more sweetness.
- McDonald’s filters its water to make it as pure as possible.
- McDonald’s pre-chills its water and syrup and sends it through refrigerated lines. Since it comes out cold, it doesn’t melt the ice as much.
- McDonald’s uses large ice cubes than other fast food restaurants or convenience stores so that the ice does not melt as fast and dilute the taste.
It is also often said that McDonald’s gets its syrup in stainless steel tanks as opposed to the plastic bags that are distributed to most customers. This may be true in some regions but I have not been able to verify that it is universally true. This would be an expensive practice requiring steel tanks to be picked up, cleaned, and refilled.
It is likely, due to all these special measures, that McDonald’s also maintains stricter safety standards for it’s fountain sodas. I do feel better about getting a fountain soda from McDonald’s than from other places. I’m not paranoid about such things, but I usually avoid fountain sodas from any type of establishment.
In fact, I avoid ordering sodas at restaurants and I never buy a fountain soda from a convenience store like 7-Eleven. Why? Because you can almost bet that the fountain machines are the nastiest, germiest thing you are likely to find except for the ice machine.
If you regularly get sodas from self-serve soda fountains or order them from fast food restaurants, etc. it is possible that you have become ill from it without even knowing it. It is possible to get a serious foodborne illness from these unclean and poorly-maintained soda dispensers. I’ll take a soda from a can or bottle over a fountain soda any day!
If you have read articles from Culinary Lore before, you’ll know I’m no alarmist, even in regards to real food safety concerns. I’ve debunked many “nasty restaurant myths” on this site. And, I’m not trying to sound the alarm here. I’ve told you my personal concerns and why I choose to not buy soda fountain soft drinks, but this does not mean that you are automatically going to become sick if you buy one. Still, as I said, it is possible you have become sick in the past from a fountain soda. Regardless, I’ll give you the information, and you can make an informed decision about your beverage choices.
Why Are Soda Fountains Machines Dangerous?
The machines used to dispense sodas in restaurants and convenience stores are not always properly cleaned. Even the dispenser nozzles themselves often are full of old soda gunk and bacteria. The plastic piping used to convey water and syrup in these dispensing systems are a particular problem because they are a good environment for biofilms to form.
Biofilms are a community of bacteria that are encased and protected by a sort of armor made up of a sticky protein and sugar matrix. This is a sort of slime that grows on the surfaces in moist environments. Regular cleaning will not remove them and if they form on the inside of small plastic pipes, they are all but impossible to remove.
A study by Thomas Dama Hile et al. published in the Journal Water Supply, evaluated 72 samples from water vending machines, soda fountains, and tap water in the Eastern Coachella Valley. In 25% of the soda fountain samples, they found traces of salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli. The latter two are both serious concerns that could cause severe gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses, or even hepatitis and death.
While they were sampling water from the soda machines, you can bet that the same types of biofilms are present in all soda machine tubing and associated parts, and, according to the researchers, the filtration systems in and soda fountains are “insufficient to prevent consumers from drinking contaminated water.”
Whatever applies to fountain soda dispensers also applies to vending machines that dispense liquids, including coffee.
Despite how alarming these results are, we still don’t have enough data about how widespread this problem is. More research is needed to find out whether such contamination is the rule, rather than the exception. However, based on similar results of contamination found in other dispensing environments, such as ice machines, it is quite likely that this type of dangerous bacterial colonization is the rule. You can read more about this particular study here.
