With summer in full swing, you may find yourself craving some delicious, creamy soft-serve ice cream—and, for many of us, a dollar cone from McDonald’s is one of the first things that comes to mind. This sweet treat is typically a staple during the warmer months. That is, of course, if you’re lucky enough to order it at a time when the ice cream machine is actually working.

But there are bigger issues at hand here. If you happen to be a germaphobe or just health-conscious overall, you may want to hear what employees of this popular fast food restaurant have to say about the beloved dessert. While some will continue eating McDonald’s ice cream to their hearts content after hearing this, others will likely be a bit disturbed: there may be some mold in the ice cream machines.

That’s right. Back in March of last year, a Reddit user spilled the info in a thread that asked fast food employees about menu items they would “absolutely not eat under any circumstances.” It may be surprising that the McDonald’s employees answer was, in fact, ice cream.

"While there isn't much that I won't eat (I just have stupid low standards for food) there are some... riskier things to eat," they wrote.

"There's a reason that the ice cream machine is down a lot," the employee continued. Oh no! Do we really want to hear this? "Sometimes it's for legit maintenance, other times, though, it's to clean the mold that likes to grow in the liquid mix." The what? Yikes!

While it's at least a bit of a comfort to know that the machine does get cleaned—because, hey, you never know—we don't love to hear that there's mold growing in the first place. "I only found out after a year, was filling it one day and looked down," the Reddit user explained. "The stuff I saw was nightmare fuel and ruined me on their soft serve for a while."

And it doesn't stop there: even after the employee saw this "nightmare fuel" and pointed it out, their coworkers shrugged it off, saying "First shift will get it tomorrow." Honestly, we wish we hadn't heard this. But now you have to hear it too!

Regardless of whether you'll continue to eat McDonald's ice cream after learning this, it's certainly an enlightening piece of information, to say the least... Ah, the secrets fast food employees hold!

Faith Geiger is a New York-based writer and editor. When she's not covering the latest in health and wellness for SheFinds, she spends her time watching reality TV with her roommates, browsing used bookstores, and enjoying live music. You can reach Faith at [email protected]