Baskin Robbins is offering free soft serve ice cream to expectant mothers on May 21, 2008, in California, Chicago, New York, Nashville, and El Paso, Texas. It’s apparently the beginning of a national roll-out of soft serve ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

I have no idea why they targeted expectant moms, or why they recruited a pregnant Tori Spelling as spokesthingy.

Andrew Reece and I did some quickie research and found the Australians, in particular, may have a problem with this promo.

Soft serve ice cream is on the Australian list of foods pregnant women should avoid. Sanitation with the equipment appears to be an on-going problem.

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. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has its own publication warning of such risks.

The risk appears minimal with good sanitation — although our research was limited and forced by time constraints. A reader asked, would I take my pregnant wife for free B&R soft serve ice cream?

No.