Our allergist told us that allowing our PA DD to eat soft serve ice cream was ok because "the mix comes straight from a bag & goes into the machine & therefore there is no possibility of cross contamination"...
has anyone else been told this? how do you all handle the ice cream situation w/your children?
as of right now we don't go to any ice cream stand that makes their own ice cream on site but only places that you can either A) read the ingredient label or B) has only soft serve.
Also, has anyone ever found the cone itself to be unsafe. I have looked at all the ingredient labels I can get my hands on for cones & haven't found any w/cross contamination issues...I find it hard to believe that they are ALL safe though...
thanks...
We eat soft serve from various places, however, I will only allow them to have it if the place has a dedicated machine for vanilla and chocolate and they run nothing else in it.
For example, our neighborhood soft serve place always has one machine for vanilla/choc and vanilla/orange. The third machine changes weekly. The set up has been the same for at least the 8 years we've been going there. It is a Fat-free ice cream product called "Wow-Cow" that is run through that third machine and the flavor always changes. A few weeks ago it was a choc/PB flavor.
They do use cone covers there and I always ask them to be careful when serving. We have never had a problem.
I am very wary of places that also have the flavor-injectors for soft serve. There is one place around us that boasts they have 75 different flavors they can inject into your ice cream. The problem is that the injector lines are not cleaned after each use. Needless to say, we avoid that place!
Good luck!
LJ
A place near us boats 75 flavors of soft serve as well. The flavor is added after the ice cream comes out of the machine. The way they explained it to me, they said there is no cross-contamination between flavors. But it is a walk-up window. I can see them get the ice cream from the machine from the window, but cannot see them mix the flavor in, since the step to the other side of the machine for that. So I let DS have soft serve ice cream there, but I don't let him have the special flavors, just choc/vanilla.
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We get soft serve from one place only and they have a dedicated machine. But I've had their ice cream for years and never had a problem and so I let my son have it. We stay away from toppings and I haven't let him eat a cone yet, but I've had them in the past and haven't had a problem. He only eats chocolate and I'll allow vanilla.
I used to let him eat the fudge because I used to eat it and be fine and now I stopped (after reading these boards) and learning more. If we want toppings we bring our own.
[This message has been edited by momll70 (edited June 11, 2007).]
Our local store has peanut butter soft serve so watch for that!
How did I not even think about them possibly having another flavour in there previously! Eek. Ah well, she's only had it at McDonald's anyway and around here they only serve vanilla (what happened to chocolate??)
*Most* soft serve is safe....but watch out for how they fill other treats witht he soft serve spiket! Like at Dairy Queen(there was just a thread on this), they stick the spiket of the soft serve down into the blizzard cups(after toppings are added) or down into peanut buster parefets....so the actual spout the icecream is coming out of, could be contaminated. I'd watch how they make a few items, then ask to be sure. Cones, I am not sure about, I'd read the box if possible....(then watch what the person is touching before they grab your cone!!!(example, Dairy Queen again, they rarely wash their hands!)
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Chanda(mother of 4)
Sidney-8 (beef and chocolate, grasses, molds, weeds, guinea pig & asthma)
Jake-6 (peanut, all tree nuts, eggs, trees, grasses, weeds, molds, cats, dogs, guinea pig & eczema & asthma)
Carson-3 1/2 (milk, soy, egg, beef and pork, cats, dog, guinea pig and EE)
Savannah-1 (milk and egg)
You should check the packaging on the mix to make sure the mix isn't made on shared equipment. Awhile ago, I checked the mix for soft serve frozen yogurt at Costco, and it was made on shared equipment with peanuts (or maybe the label said made in the same facility. I forget).