New Law Blogs

Read FSN Post Regarding Soft Serve Ice Cream and Pregnant Women

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

A post on the International Food Safety Network’s Barfblog asks “Is free soft-serve ice cream for pregnant women a good idea?” Baskin Robbins is offering free soft serve ice cream to pregnant women today as a promotion of its new soft-serve ice cream. 

According to Dr. Doug Powell, soft-serve ice cream is on the Australian list of foods pregnant women should avoid, and for good reason:

A 1996 study in Sydney, Australia found 49 of 86 samples of soft serve to have dangerous bacteria levels. Another study in Wisconsin in 2003, found 15 of 22 local soft serve machines at retail food service establishments to have dangerous levels of coliforms and other bacteria. In 2006, Iowa also found a high level of soft serve machines (23%) in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area to have dangerous levels of coliforms and other bacteria. Regular cleaning of machines with soap and sanitizer could reduce the number of bacteria found on the soft serve machines. Poor hygiene can lead to the spread of foodborne illness through soft serve ice cream. Soft serve ice cream is typically kept at a higher storage temperature than frozen ice creams, which could lead to increased bacterial growth. Ice cream is high in moisture and protein content, which is favorable for bacteria to grow.

Read the entire post on Barfblog.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on May 21, 2008 (boomark / email).