Is soft-served ice cream bad for pregnant women?”
The problem is three-fold. First, sanitation with the equipment appears to be an on-going problem – not every company is as good as it should be about keeping the equipment clean. This could be minimized in a store situation where only the store employees handle the machine. Regular cleaning of machines with soap and sanitizer could reduce the number of bacteria found on the soft serve machines. . Second, soft serve is kept at a warmer temperature than regular ice cream so any bacteria present have a better chance of multiplying or multiplying faster. . Third, there is a bacteria (Listeria moncytogenes) that is contained in soft cheeses, cold cuts, soft serve, etc. that is harmless to adults and even children, but attacks the unborn child causing still births and miscarriages. In newborns it causes sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis. The bacteria is found in soil, water, and plants and unlike other bacteria this one grows in cool moist environments. It is found in other foods, but other
