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I am 6 months pregnant. I was told NOT to have soft serve (regular ice cream is ok). Is this true? I would LOVE to go out and get a free soft serve cone if someone could tell me it's ok. What I read on the internet didn't make me feel very confident.

Dude, the internet told you that you couldn't have softserve annaland?? I would stop being friends with the internet, seriously... awful!

In Australia the government-issued advice is to avoid soft serve during pregnancy because the machines can harbour listeria.

I'm assuming this is to do with different levels of conservatism in official advisories, rather than something particularly evil about Aussie soft serve machines... but if you're erring on the side of caution, I'd be staying away.

When my son was post bone marrow transplant, soft serve was absolutely forbidden. Actually, it's forbidden for anyone with a compromised immune system along with lots of other things. I hadn't heard that it was a problem for pregnant women, but it's probably not a bad precaution. You won't be pregnant forever--- it will just seem that way.

I agree with Clumpy, here in Australia soft-serve is on the list of unsafe foods in pregnancy because it carries a high Listeria risk. Listeria can cause miscarriage, fetal death and preterm labour - a risk not to be taken lightly.

Both the machines and the icecream itself can harbor the bacteria due to the temperatures the icecream is served at. Listeria can survive in temperatures of -6 degrees celcius, and the temperature that soft-serve is generally made does not come close. Only heat is effective in destroying the bacteria. Regular icecream is safer as it is generally stored at temperatures reaching -15 to -20 deg C.

I personally wouldnt be putting the life of my baby in the hands of a stranger. Who knows how well or how poorly they have maintained the machine. And besides, 9 months isnt a lifetime, you can survive without it.

I do find it interesting that they are giving away soft-serve specifically for mums-to-be. Perhaps an attempt to make it seem safer? I just think it's funny that of all the icecream they could have given away, it just happens to be the soft-serve...

Why not give away something high in nutrients and vegan to expectant mothers? That would seem more logical.