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The results of inspections carried out by the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) during this year's ice cream season showed that more than half of the ice cream samples evaluated to date failed to meet hygiene limits. The findings point to persistent shortcomings in production hygiene and the cleaning and disinfection of ice cream preparation equipment.

According to the completed assessments, a total of 53.5% of ice cream samples failed to meet the requirements.

During inspections, CAFIA inspectors focus on compliance with the safety and quality parameters of ice cream, including checks of the equipment used to prepare it.

Ice cream samples were collected mainly from establishments producing their own ice cream, fast-food outlets, confectioneries and cafés. These categories accounted for almost 90% of all samples collected.

In 2026, CAFIA inspectors collected a total of 149 ice cream samples. Laboratory assessments have been completed for 144 samples, of which 77 (53.5%) failed to meet hygiene limits and 67 were compliant. The assessment of the remaining five samples is still ongoing. The non-compliant samples were found to exceed the criterion for bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The main causes of these findings are considered to be inadequate production hygiene, insufficient cleaning and disinfection of equipment, and failure to follow the prescribed procedures for ice cream preparation. Inadequate staff training may also play a role.

One of the typical causes of problems with soft-serve ice cream is the undesirable practice of operators failing to discard the ice cream remaining at the end of the day and instead returning it to the machine the following day. This can lead to the transfer of bacterial contamination between the machine and the ice cream mix.

Vanilla ice cream was the most common type among the non-compliant samples, accounting for 43 of the 77 non-compliant samples (55.8%). At the same time, it represented almost half of all samples collected, with 71 out of 149 samples (48%).

For comparison, interim inspection results for 2025 as of 1 September showed that 46% of the ice cream samples assessed failed to meet the requirements. The corresponding figures were 52% in 2024, 45% in 2023, 53.3% in 2022, 48.3% in 2021 and 51% in 2020.

The results of this year's inspections, as well as those from previous years, clearly show that a significant proportion of the operators inspected underestimate the importance of following hygiene procedures during the production, storage and sale of ice cream, as well as the need for proper and regular cleaning and disinfection of production equipment.

The proportion of non-compliant samples cannot be generalised to the market as a whole, as CAFIA selects samples for testing on the basis of risk analysis and inspects establishments where problems are considered more likely to occur more frequently. However, establishments with no previous compliance issues are also inspected regularly, albeit less frequently.

At establishments where non-compliant results are found, CAFIA inspectors take corrective measures, including prohibiting the use of the equipment concerned, requiring it to be cleaned and disinfected, and subsequently verifying the effectiveness of these measures through microbiological testing at an accredited laboratory. The equipment may only be used again once a compliant test result has been obtained.

The identified breaches of legislation provide grounds for administrative proceedings to impose a fine.

Article by: Pavel Kopřiva, CAFIA Spokesperson