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Restaurant Dish Bacteria Science Fair Projects

Controversial Food Projects - Restaurant Dish Bacteria Science Fair Projects
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How much bacteria is found on a dish at a restaurant?

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Samples

When you are collecting data for this type of science fair project you will need to be creative in how you select test samples. YOu may need to ask a restaurant owner or manager if you can test their plates for bacteria, or you will need to covertly collect samples while you dine.

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Test bacteria on any surface with the Surface Microbes Science Fair Projects Kit: after hand sanitizer, hands, disinfectant.. for example. You can use antibiotics to test the bacteria too.

Anytime you want to test how many bacteria are On Top of a surface like a desk, skin, chicken, computer keyboard, bread dough, a hard piece of chocolate, cheese, inside of an animal's cheek, etc. then use the surface experimenter kit. The kit will let you calculate how many bacteria there are per unit surface area on the object. You can also test for e-coli, however, only the microbe water kit will let you distinguish e. coli from other coliforms and bacteria.

 

Objectives/Goals

To determine whether dishes on which food is served in restaurants carry bacteria which can cause disease.

Methods/Materials

Empty serving dishes from five restaurants were swabbed when they were first brought to the table and re-swabbed after cleaning with an alcohol wipe. The re-swabbed dishes cleaned with the alcohol wipe served as the control group. All the swabs were plated on separate Petri dishes containing agar and placed in an incubator at 37 degrees Celsius. The Petri dishes were examined for bacterial growth after 24 hours. Subcultures were then set up and incubated for 24 hours at 37 degrees Celsius. The Petri dishes were re-examined for bacterial growth after 48 hours. Bacteria were identified by using Gram Stain, catalase test, latex coagulation test and indole test.

Results

Of the five restaurants tested, dishes from one restaurant did not grow any bacteria; dishes from two restaurants grew one type of bacteria; dishes from one restaurant grew two types of bacteria; and dishes from one restaurant grew five types of bacteria. No bacterial growth was found on the control group of dishes.

Conclusions/Discussion

Many people get sick after eating in restaurants. The Center for Disease Control estimates that millions of cases of food poisoning occur in the U.S. every year. The Department of Environmental Health tests food hygiene in restaurants, but does not test the cleanliness of dishes in which food is served to customers. This study shows that serving dishes in some restaurants carry pathogenic bacteria. 3rd party contributor


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