How to Eat Ice Cream Safely During The Summer

Ahhh, the thrill of summer. For some lovers of ice cream, summertime could be the most glorious time to eat it. In this article are three cautions and methods to use when purchasing ice cream from a store or supermarket to help insure that it doesn't make for an upset stomach or give you flu like symptoms.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• a good eye
• sense of smell
• consciousness

1. We must keep in mind that ice cream is made up of milk, cream and sometimes eggs; all ingredients that can spoil quickly no doubt in heat. In the case of buying ice cream for example at a supermarket, take caution that the container doesn't have thick ice particles on it. This may be an indication that the ice cream melted due to a breakdown of the freezer long enough for the ice cream to have separated from itself in which the ice cream could end up with freezer burn or ice particles that make it more susceptible and more readily easy to become contaminated with bacteria.
2. Look out for a gaping or indent on the top of the container and or squeeze the container to see if the sides expand in and out. This could mean additional air is sitting inside the container. You will know because when it's pressed, or you push down on the cover, it sinks in and doesn't bounce back. These are two clues that the ice cream in the container may have been refrozen and have ice particles and have possibliites that it has become contaminated.
3. Check too for deep razor cuts in the top of your ice cream container covers before purchasing. These slits can add germs from the razor digging into it and also add air that will seep in while the product stays in store freezer or your own.
4. Now of course there is still the possibility that during shipment there was a normal amount of softening of the product and settlement wasn't even after hardening in a stores freezer. This could be cause for some indenting of the container. Look to see if there's drippings or dried drippings from under the cover not just on the outside and check also to see how messy the freezer itself is in the store you are making a purchase. These are good indicators of the how, when or where the melting may have occurred. Do take into consideration that if it freezer is well stocked of different brands and there are drippings like that, there is less concern. If you use these general tips, you will have less of a chance getting an upset stomach or symptoms of food poison, that often comes on as a feeling of flu like symptoms and diarrhea, mostly due to the eggs and then milk in the product.

Tips & Warnings

• Now go find yourself some chunky monkey or other exotic gourmet ice cream, eat healthy and long live the cone! Half a pint, quart... LOL
• if you need more inspiration, click on the ice cream cone picture at the top of this article.
• Although eating ice cream can make for an upset stomach any time of the year, caution needs to be taken in purchasing and eating it more during the hottest days of the year so as to not fall victim to becoming ill especially with small children or the elderly, whose immune system is still growing and or weakening.
• Smell your ice cream to make sure it doesn't smell sour or have a strong egg scent. Some ice cream flavors of course are big on extra eggs, like certain chocolate flavors or French vanilla. If the eggs that were used to make it were old, you will still be able to detect a type of rotten smell in the ice cream.