Summertime, Ice Cream and Paint Chips

Peeling and chipped paint above ready-to-eat food is a potential physical hazard.  In this case if the ice cream pictured here is contaminated and ingested by a child, there may be a possibility of illness.  Just when you thought you were doing your kid a favor by taking them out for a cool treat on a hot summer day. 

Ice cream as innocent as it seems, can cause foodborne illness if it is mishandled, improperly stored, thermally abused (thawed and re-frozen) or made with contaminated ingredients. 

Ice crystals and soft-to-the-touch products are suspect.  So are those soft serve machines that have not been properly cleaned and sanitized since last summer.  The sick person scooping your cone with an ungloved hand that has an open wound can also transmit disease. 

If Hepatitis A can survive all the way from Turkey in pomegranate seeds as part of a frozen organic berry mix, anything is possible.

Make sure to use common sense this summer.  Food poisoning is more prevalent and especially uncomfortable during the warmer months.

For more information, please visit:  foodsafetystories.com

Dave Walpuck CP-FS