Have you ever knelt down on your hands and knees and licked the floor? Or grabbed a straw and taken a long drink out of your toilet?

Yeah, didn’t think so.

You may, however, be ingesting fecal bacteria without even knowing it.

According to the National Restaurant Association, the average American eats out approximately four times each week. And, as you are seated at a restaurant table, a waiter will likely bring out a glass of water, often garnished with a lemon. Many people are unaware that lemons may be adding more than just flavor to their drinks.

After noticing a waitress dip her fingers into a glass of soda while placing a lemon wedge on the rim, Anne LaGrange Loving, assistant professor of science at Passaic County Community College in New Jersey, decided to conduct a study to see just how sanitary these citrus garnishes are. She wrote about her findings in the Journal of Environmental Health.

Loving and her team tested 21 restaurants all around Paterson, N.J. and found that almost 70 percent of the lemon slices were contaminated. Of the 76 lemons they sampled, 53 contained disease-causing bacteria. A total of 25 different germs were found, some of which are commonly found in human feces.

The most probable explanation for this, Loving wrote, was employees not washing their hands properly after using the restroom or handling raw meat.

“I thought lemons were supposed to be healthy and kill germs,” said Monica Newman, freshman in animal science.

If you are concerned about your health, you may want to leave out more than just the lemon. The ice restaurants serve is often crawling with harmful bacteria.

NBC aired a report in July 2006 about a 15-year-old boy who died after consuming contaminated ice from a golf course in Phoenix, Ariz. in 2002. That same ice made more than 80 others sick and was reportedly handled by an employee who had the stomach flu and had not washed his or her hands.

Catherine Strohbehn,adjunct associate professor of apparel education studies and hospitality management, does not consider this uncommon.

“You’d think that all employees wash their hands, but you would be surprised,” Strohbehn said.

Before eating, she suggests customers check out the cleanliness of the restrooms and make sure there is a sufficient amount of soap. She believes that the physical appearance of a restaurant is an indicator of how sanitary it is behind the counter.

“When I go into a restaurant, I pay attention to the appearance of the building and of its employees,” Strohbehn said.

Strohbehn, who is also a registered dietitian and certified food safety professional, serves on the Iowa Food Safety Task Force and encourages students to check its Web site. The site provides food safety news, facts and tips, and blogs written by professionals in the field, including Strohbehn herself.

When eating on campus, Strohbehn assures that we are in good hands. The dining centers take food safety seriously and pride themselves on the extensive training all their employees receive before handling your food.

With a staff of nearly 800 students and 200 full-time workers, Nancy Levandowski,director of ISU Dining, considers food safety one of their main priorities.

“There is so much we have to do to make sure that our facilities are a safe place to eat,” Levandowski said.

In addition to the routine cleaning of the dining centers, Levandowski has to make sure they are buying products from certified vendors, that the machines are deep-cleaned over school breaks and that foods are stored at appropriate temperatures – just a few of the precautionary steps taken to ensure a safe environment.

When deciding where to go out to eat, it may be helpful to look at the Department of Inspections and Appeals Web site. This site shows exactly what violations health inspectors have found at every restaurant in Iowa.