Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Finds The Source Of Listeria Recall

By Melissa McEwen in Food on May 6, 2015 8:50PM

Last month, listeria was discovered in a random sampling of ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. Jeni's issued a voluntary recall on all its ice cream products and temporarily closed is two dozen shops around the country. Today they announced that they have found the source of that listeria. A swab test found listeria on the spout of one machine used to fill pints.

According to Jeni's they plan to work with experts to make their kitchens safer, an investment they estimate will cost $200,000. Some of the planned changes include a color-coded system to limit cross contamination and processing fresh fruits and vegetables at a separate location.

Listeria is a common pathogen found in soil and water. It has traditionally been associated with meat and dairy, but many recent outbreaks have been traced to produce. The CDC says the disease is most dangerous for pregnant women, infants and adults with weakened immune systems. No illnesses have been traced to Jeni's.

While it is very sad that they had to destroy 535,000 pounds of ice cream, we applaud them for their transparency and swift response. Also they converted most of that ice cream into electricity and fertilizer using an anaerobic digester.

Sadly, for now the shops remain closed. They say they "hope to resume ice cream production very soon."