Would a McDonalds Smoothie be in question?

[Tmama]

I only ask as a spin off of the Soft Serve post from the other day that I read on here.  The question that poster had was in terms of bacteria in the soft serve machine and a lot of the responses said that it actually makes sense...since the machines do have bacteria in them and it can happen.  On that note, I have been LOVING McDonald's smoothies - the wild berry one and it is sooooooooooooog good.  I need it as often as I see the big golden arch...I have to have one almost every other day.  I should look up the calorie content but they are sooo good that I try not to think about it.  I have been quite lazy so I know I could easily make my own, but when it is readily available, I just want it .

What do you ladies think in about smoothies in terms of that soft serve post?

Thanks!

[tzs]

i had personal soft serve experience but not so much with mcdonalds smoothies. 

from what i do know is that of all restaurants, fast food or otherwise, mcdonalds has really impecable and stringent standards for cleanliness and food safety. i worked in one briefly and everything was ship shape. i think that goes pretty much across the board since the corporation has very strict and consistent expectations of its franchises, i think the strictest in the industry, so i've heard.

the other thing is that in addition to the soft serve machines being very difficult to clean, they held dairy all day. i don;t know anything about the smoothie machines but i'd wager that the ingredients are less prone to bacteria growth than soft serve.

i'd keep enjoying

[javilu]

I was the one who wrote that post.  The answers have made me pretty nervous about soft serve, but I do agree that McDonald's has to be really stringent about their machines.  I've heard from employees that every surface has to be disinfected daily, even if it's just holding barbecue sauce.  They have a pretty specific procedure to follow everyday before closing.  I would probably go ahead with the smoothies, even though I'll probably hold off on getting soft serve in other places.

[kriket]

I used to clean every shake machine in my area, because I was the only one who knew how. They do have to be cleaned, and every thing sanitized. But.... Many people just don't know. They think they are cleaning it, but they are missing some ring or plunger or what not. Every time I would visit a new store out of my area to train, I *always* said "Do you know this comes off too" they never did, and it was always gross in there. However (to go with my butt) as a company, they  do have standards, and they are very specific.

I have zero idea how they do the smoothie.

I don't think there is a machine involved at all. If I had to guess, it's frozen bits in a blender.

[~Amy~]

Yep, I watched a McDonald's smoothie being made the other day.  It's done in a blender.  All the stuff is pre-mixed, frozen, etc & just dumped in the blender like at Booster Juice.  And according to the website, a small Wildberry smoothie has 210 calories and 0.5 grams of fat.

[Tmama]

Thanks for the responses! I head them say the otherday the machine was broken...who knows...either way they are too yummy to say no to!