Eh, I’m the guy who has to scrub the snot out of them and I still get ice unless I actually know it’s a place that doesn’t clean the machine. Most of the stuff that grows in them is disgusting to look at but benign. Even the concerning ones are often only an issue if inhaled. That’s not to say that a filthy ice machine can’t transmit foodbourne illness. They definitely can. But I’ve seen far more concerning things in various commercial kitchens than dirty ice machines. Also, this will vary by area, but usually the things get plugged full of lime scale to the point that they stop working long before the biofilm gets truely horifying. The only places I ever see where the biofilm gets really bad are bars and places that do in-house baking because yeast loves ice machines for some reason.
Eh, I’m the guy who has to scrub the snot out of them and I still get ice unless I actually know it’s a place that doesn’t clean the machine. Most of the stuff that grows in them is disgusting to look at but benign. Even the concerning ones are often only an issue if inhaled. That’s not to say that a filthy ice machine can’t transmit foodbourne illness. They definitely can. But I’ve seen far more concerning things in various commercial kitchens than dirty ice machines. Also, this will vary by area, but usually the things get plugged full of lime scale to the point that they stop working long before the biofilm gets truely horifying. The only places I ever see where the biofilm gets really bad are bars and places that do in-house baking because yeast loves ice machines for some reason.