Jeni's Splendid Closing Up Shop Again After Another Listeria Scare

By Lisa White in Food on Jun 12, 2015 3:45PM

It has not been a good few months for Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and the bad news continues. The company announced today that they have found more listeria in their production facility, and will be temporarily shuttering production and scoop shops again.

In April, Jeni's announced a voluntary recall of all their products and closed their two dozen shops around the country after finding the "possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes." They reopened Memorial Day weekend after getting the all clear, but now have found listeria again through a routine swabbing that is part of their monitoring program.

CEO John Lowe announced the company stopped production earlier this week and have been investigating where and how the listeria re-entered their facility. So far they have a theory, although not stating what that theory is, and are testing it out. As of now, they do not have a timeline for when they'll restart production.

Have no fear if you've enjoyed Jeni's since they recently reopened, the company has been testing every batch of ice cream they've made since resuming production, holding it until they received results that showed no listeria was detected. "So it is with complete confidence that I can say all of the ice cream that has been served in our shops since reopening on May 22 has been safe and is 100% Listeria-free," Lowe said in his statement.

Since they are ceasing ice cream production, they will also be closing up scoop shops temporarily since they do not have enough ice cream currently to keep stores stocked. The company will have to go through the process of getting rid of any listeria again and testing their facility before resuming production. Shortly after, they'll announce when shops will reopen.

Although Jeni's fans will be disappointed over another lack of their sweet fix, Lowe did point out a silver lining:

While we would most certainly prefer that Listeria never enter our facility, we do take solace in the fact that our protocols and testing have worked: we found the Listeria before it got into ice cream we served. This finding and our ceasing of production enables us the opportunity to prevent contamination and continue to ensure the safety of our customers.

[H/T Anthony Todd]