The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of a popular New England dessert that was named the official ice cream of the Boston Bruins hockey team.
“Potential foreign object contamination: rubber pieces,” federal officials stated.
The ice cream was sold in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont and is described as golden vanilla with crushed chocolate cookies, fudge-filled chocolate pucks, and ribbons of rich fudge.
The flavor was custom-made and named the Boston hockey team’s official ice cream in 2016.
The recall is applicable to one-quart containers with the UPC 8 60864 00030 7 and an Aug. 27 expiration date.
Gifford's Dairy received a small number of consumer complaints regarding the presence of foreign material in the ice cream, according to Gifford's Dairy company leaders.
“Our investigation indicates the foreign material likely originated from a food-grade gasket associated with an ingredient used during production,” Gifford’s Dairy marketing manager Samantha Plourd told NTD. “While the issue appears limited to a portion of the production run, we voluntarily recalled the entire lot out of an abundance of caution and continue to work with the FDA as we complete our investigation.”
The sweet treat was recalled on Aug. 14, and within five days, on Aug. 19, the FDA tagged it with a Class II event incident label.
A Class II event is described by the FDA as a situation whereby exposure to the product "may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences,” while a Class I event is the FDA’s highest-level risk alert and is described as "a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death."
Meanwhile, a Class III event involves products that violate regulations but are unlikely to cause health problems, such as minor labeling errors.
Gifford's Dairy, Inc. company leaders did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
The recall applies to Organic Super Premium Ice Cream sold in Vanilla Bean, Strawberry, Cookie Dough, Mint Chip, and Dutch Chocolate flavors in pint and quart-sized containers.
They were sold across 17 states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.