According to inspectors from the Czech State Agricultural and Food Inspection Authority, over one-third of ice cream machines did not meet hygienic standards, primarily due to the improper cleaning of machines, iRozhlas reported on Wednesday.
According to the authorities, hygiene issues inside machines are not generally recognizable from the outside, and operators should be more careful to keep standards high by wearing gloves and cleaning the machines with disinfectant on a daily basis. “It also depends on the surroundings – when we see that there is dirt, it already indicates that some microorganisms could get there,” an inspector told iRozhlas.
“30 percent of the ice cream samples taken do not meet the microbiological parameters, for ice for drinks it is even 43 percent. These results are roughly correlated with last year’s results, which are between 25 and 30 percent for ice cream and 40 to 45 percent for ice for beverages,” Pavel Kopřiva, the spokesman for the government agency, stated.
Kopřiva told CT24 that improper cleaning can lead to the proliferation of bacteria, such as listeria, e.coli, and salmonella, which could potentially lead to serious health problems for consumers. Machines found to be unhygienic will be prevented from serving until operations are in full compliance with the food and health regulations. Inspections will be conducted until September.
