What's better on a hot summer day than ice cream? While going out to the ice cream parlor is the best way to sample different flavors, some of us prefer keeping a few cartons at home to have when it's just too hot to leave the AC behind. However, you'll want to pay attention to what you have in your freezer. According to a June 24 notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 13 different brands of ice cream sold nationwide are being recalled.
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Per the FDA, Totally Cool, Inc. of Owings Mills, Maryland, initiated the recall due to concerns about potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.
According to a separate document published by the FDA, the recall impacts several pints of sorbet and ice cream, as well as different ice cream cakes, cones, and sandwiches from 13 brands.
Products from the Friendly's, Abilyn's Frozen Bakery, Hershey's Ice Cream, Yelloh!, Jeni's, Cumberland Farms, The Frozen Farmer, Marco, ChipWich, AMAFruits, Taharka, Dolcezza Gelato, and LaSalle brands were pulled. The FDA document includes a complete list of specific items and affected posts. The recall does not impact any products other than those listed in the FDA document.
Affected ice cream products were distributed nationwide, available at retail locations and via direct delivery. Following sampling that revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, the FDA confirmed that Totally Cool, Inc. "ceased the production and distribution of the affected products." The company is also "taking preventive actions" while the FDA continues its investigation.
U.S. FDA
Listeria is an organism that can cause "serious and sometimes fatal infections" in children, elderly people, and people with compromised immune systems.
"Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women," the FDA warns. These symptoms can start a few days after you've eaten contaminated food or as many as 30 days after, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Listeria infection is most commonly caused by deli meats that haven't been processed properly and unpasteurized milk products, the Mayo Clinic states. It can also withstand colder environments, surviving both refrigeration and freezing.
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Totally Cool, Inc. hasn't received reports of illnesses related to the recall, but consumers are instructed to return any recalled products to their place of purchase for a full refund. If you have any questions, the FDA asks that you reach out to Totally Cool, Inc. directly by phone or email, both of which are provided in the recall notice.
This isn't the first time ice cream has been the subject of Listeria concerns. In Aug. 2023, the FDA was investigating an outbreak of Listeria tied to dairy and non-diary products with the Ice Cream House logo.
And more recently, in Nov. 2023, Wilcox Ice Cream recalled all flavors of its Wilcox brand ice cream, yogurt, and ice cream bars, as well as Leonardo's brand gelato after the Vermont Department of Agriculture identified a lot of ice cream that may have been contaminated with the bacteria.
