Visit a bar or a restaurant and you will often find bartenders adding a lemon slice to the drink.

The fizzy drink with a slice of lemon looks tempting to many, but be warned!

Wondering why? Well, the below-mentioned points will make you understand why and we hope that next time when you visit a bar/cafe you will be careful with what you are drinking.

Revealed: Lemon wedges contain harmful germs

After the cases of people getting ill due to lemon water, a 2007 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health reported that 76 lemons from 27 restaurants were detected with germs and other dirty stuff that caused illness to humans.

Research findings

The published report mentioned that nearly 70 per cent of the lemon slices had virus, bacteria and other microbes, including E. coli. This study proved the fact that though lemon is a natural germ killer, there are chances that it can get infected.

Contains bacteria and human waste

The food researchers have found that the lemon slice in your drink is likely to have way more bacteria than the food on your plate. In an investigation, ABC found that servers in restaurants often grab lemon without gloves, which means that germs and bacteria in their hands are likely to transfer to the lemons ( in case they didn’t clean their hands after using the bathroom). Also, there have been instances where restaurants simply rinse the skin instead of giving each fruit a good scrub.

What’s the solution?

In case you can’t resist the combination of water, lemon and soda, all you need to do is to ask the server to bring water or soda with no lemon. You can simply squeeze in the juice and then set aside the wedges. When making lemon water at home, make sure to wash it before putting it in your glass.