The Scoop Red Flag You Should Never Ignore At Ice Cream Shops

It's hard to explain why, but ice cream from a shop tastes better than it does at home. Whether you have a sundae, cone, or milkshake, there is something fun and nostalgic about ordering out. But while deciding between cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, and vanilla chocolate swirl, make sure you're paying attention to how the employees are serving up the goods. One of the biggest red flags to watch for is how the employees handle the scoops and how they clean them.

Ice cream scoops should be washed under running water whenever the server switches to a different flavor. Unfortunately, what you often see is a hotel pan insert filled with cloudy water that employees use for the scoops. We pointed this out in our list of ice cream shop red flags to avoid.

At the beginning of a shift, someone usually fills the stainless steel pan or bain marie pot with warm water. The scoop gets put in and taken out over and over again, so it's not really getting cleaned. If anything, the scoop becomes more contaminated because it is exposed to many different flavors, the residue of which are floating around in that container. It's not being properly cleaned, let alone sanitized.

Food allergies and sensitivities are a big deal. You need to be mindful of cross-contamination not just at ice cream shops, but everywhere from potluck dinners to family barbecues. Most people who have severe allergies worry about the chance that they could come into contact with an allergen.

Beyond that serious health concern, washing ice cream scoops is a simple matter of hygiene and respecting the food that's being served. If you want strawberry ice cream, you do not want the scoop covered in chocolate. That's going to change the flavor.  If the scoop isn't clean, you may also start wondering what else isn't clean. Everything else in the shop might be immaculate, but how are you supposed to know that now? It's not just bad for you as the customer, it's bad for the business.

Ice cream shops should use designated scoops for each flavor or use a scoop shower or dipper well. These are very small sinks with faucets that run water into them, sometimes continuously. Ice cream shops and coffee shops use them to prevent food or residue from building up on utensils. It's a small detail, but you'll enjoy your ice cream a lot more if you know it was served with a clean scoop.