Germs & quality defects with ice cream from ice cream parlors

Germ bearing and quality defects: The consumer ministry has found germs in ice from ice cream parlors.

The Hessian state laboratory published the results of an investigation in August, in which every seventh ice sample had too high a bacterial load. Now comes the consumer center North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in a separate study to similar results. Thus, a quarter of the samples had too high a load of enterobacteria, and in about 20 percent of the milk ice samples, more than half of the fat content was foreign fat.

From late July to mid-August 2010, the Consumer Center tested one serving of vanilla ice cream in each cup at 39 fixed and five mobile locations. In the laboratory, the samples were subsequently examined for germ load and foreign fat content. In about a quarter of the samples, significant bacterial contamination with enterobacteria - of more than 500 germs per gram - was present. Thus, not only the benchmark but also the warning value was exceeded and the ice cream should not have been sold anymore. In addition, for every fifth sample of ice, the proportion of foreign fat in the total fat content was over 50 percent. This is according to the consumer center label fraud, since milk ice must be made using only milk fat. Over 40 percent of the samples were criticized by the Consumer Center.

According to the Consumer Protection Center, the high level of bacterial contamination can be explained primarily by the inconsistent handling of hygiene regulations, with ice cream scoops in particular being regarded as risk factors. Because these would have to be rinsed under running water after each use, but usually most ice cream parlors use only a vessel with stagnant water for cleaning. So the scoopers make a breeding ground for germs.

Directly harmful to health are enterobacteria only for persons with a weakened immune system, in which they can trigger abdominal pain, gastric and intestinal diseases and diarrhea. Thus, the health risk of microbial contamination is given but relatively low. Worse is the image damage the ice cream parlors suffer from the results of the investigation. Even if Annalisa Carnio, the spokeswoman of the Association of artisan Italian ice cream maker in Germany. (Uniteis eV) explicitly differentiates the quality of the products of its members from the results obtained here. For ten years, no deficiencies have been found in one of the uniteis companies, with about half of the artisanal ice cream parlors in Germany being organized by Uniteis. To ensure that no further deficiencies occur, the Uniteis members regularly receive advice and training from a hygiene institute, because: „Quality is the first commandment“, emphasized Annalisa Carnio. The reason for the poor performance of many ice cream parlors, in their view, is that anyone can open an ice cream parlor without first having to complete the two-year training as an ice cream maker.

As a consequence of the results of the investigation, the Consumer Center calls for stricter and more frequent checks of the ice cream parlors and stalls. For this reason, the Consumer Protection Center also works closely with food inspection and passes the results of its investigations on to them. Food monitoring in NRW is responsible for ice cream parlors in addition to manufacturing companies and supermarkets, and has taken about 6000 samples of ice cream and desserts last year, according to the State Consumer Protection Ministry, with eight percent were complained of on the basis of applicable regulations.

The ice cream parlors have a hard time this year anyway, because of the rainy weather and the short heat wave, the total turnover has fallen by an average of 20 percent. Survey results like now from North Rhine-Westphalia certainly do not remedy this and additionally burden the industry. So is growing among the ice cream sellers interest in the introduction of an incentive-punishment system, which z. B. on the basis of smiley badges food businesses that are characterized by a particularly good hygiene in controls, awarded and companies that stand out negatively, even at the first infringement (after the expiry of the statutory opposition period) published on the Internet. (Fp)

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Every fourth ice is contaminated with germs
Every seventh ice is contaminated with germs

Picture: Rainer Sturm