I’m a fan of soft-serve ice cream. If I’m out somewhere and have an urge for a treat I’m likely looking for a DQ dipped cone or a McDonald’s hot fudge sundae (with nuts). The Toronto Star reports today that eating my top dessert choice from some Ontario outlets might not be a good idea. Investigative reporter Diana Zlomislic from the Star tested vanilla ice cream and frozen yogurt samples from 14 sites, including mobile trucks, street kiosks and retail chains.  Zlomislic reportedly found coliform, a group of indicator bacteria that may mean a lack of sanitation, exceeding suggested limits at five of the vendors.

The highest level the Star found – at 3,000 coliform organisms per gram – was purchased from JJ Dairy Cool, a mobile ice cream truck stationed outside Toronto City Hall on Queen St. W.
Owner George Koutsaris, one of Toronto’s original ice cream truck vendors who’s been selling cones for more than 40 years, says he prides himself on the cleanliness of his operation.

It’s a small study size (14 sites, and I’m assuming one cone per site), and I’m not sure how acseptic the reporters’ sampling was (samples could have been contaminated by a dirty journo putting the cone into a bag) but, if everything was done correctly, finding coliform in the served product at 5 places isn’t good. It’s not all that surprising, coliform has routinely been found on the nozzles of soft-serve machines when folks look. Based on sanitation data, Australian health authorities suggest that moms-to-be avoid soft-serve throughout pregnancy.

Zlomislic writes that:

Koutsaris worries the problem may lie with his supplier of the liquid soft-serve mix, which he purchases by the bag. His daughter, who works with him, said their supplier is buying products from a new wholesaler.

Coliform shouldn’t be in soft-serve ice cream. It shows a lack of sanitation, poor supplier practices or both. Regardless of the source, it could indicate that pathogens are present. In one of the most popular barfblog posts ever, Doug took on Tori Spelling and Baskin-Robbins over a soft-serve ice cream giveaway targeted at moms-to-be. 

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.

As someone with experience in microbiology, I have high standards for sanitation. (I always wash my hands after picking up a bag of raw chicken—even if it’s frozen—and I wipe down the counter, too.) My mother, on the other hand, focuses on visual cleanliness. Since she’s on her way for a visit, I’m doing all the things that I don’t find quite so important, like dusting and putting my husband’s toys away. While, despite my efforts, her house will always look better than mine, I’m content to think my family will get less diarrhea.

Michael McCain is the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, which allowed an undetected build-up of pathogenic listeria deep inside its slicing machines to contaminate deli meats that eventually killed 22 Canadians and sickened 57 more.

He stated yesterday that, despite concerns by the media and a meat inspectors’ labor union that overworked inspectors spend most of their time doing paperwork, more visual inspections would not have made a difference. Inspectors, without the aid of listeria-vision goggles, could not have seen the bacteria that contaminated the meats.

While regulators play an important role in persuading food producers to make safe products, it’s the culture of each organization that primarily determines whether they produce safe food.

In the case of Maple Leaf Foods, communication with consumers during the outbreak (as discussed by Doug and Ben) demonstrated that it was an organization that recognized the value of producing safe food. Their failure to detect L. monocytogenes in product samples led to a $50 million recall, settlements to victims totaling $27 million, and a loss of business that suggested they could do more to act out the food safety culture they had fostered.

No scrap of such a culture could be found at Peanut Corporation of America when the peanut products it was shipping sickened 714 people across the US. As of yesterday, claims totaling $202 million have been filed against PCA in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on behalf of the people who were sickened and families who lost loved ones in its salmonella outbreak, in addition to companies that bought contaminated PCA products for use in their own food products.

Smart food producers and preparers know that it pays to take responsibility for the safety of your products, no matter how closely an inspector (governmental or parental) is watching.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the local 11pm news and a story about a pretty nasty event  linked to Raleigh restaurant popped on. WRAL reported that one paramedic unit was dispatched and called for backup when 10 patrons of EVOO (which I drive by on my way to campus)  suddenly became ill on April 17th, 2009. At least three patrons were taken to hospital with stomach cramps, vomiting and dizziness.

When I first heard about how violent and sudden the outbreak was I was reminded of an a couple of scombrotoxin outbreaks that occurred in Washington State in 2004.  My favorite part about that outbreak report was what diarrhea associated with escolar looks like:

Diarrhea associated with consumption of escolar is caused by an indigestible waxy ester (gempylotoxin) that is naturally present in the fish; the diarrhea is often described as oily and/or unusually colored, and may be accompanied by abdominal discomfort and fecal incontinence.

Mmmm.

Although the true cause may never be known the epidemiology reports point to salad consumption as a common food. One of the working theories for this outbreak is cross-contamination of scombrotoxin poison from fish on the menu or high-histamine containing anchovies used in Caesar salad dressing.

Here’s this week’s food safety infosheet on EVOO and scombrotoxin.