After a series of recalls, an investigation into safety issues at U.S. ice cream makers forced one manufacturer to cease operations and resulted in three voluntary recalls, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The FDA said that it inspected and obtained samples from 89 ice cream production facilities in 32 states in 2016 and 2017, detecting listeria monocytogenes, which can cause listeriosis, at 19 facilities and one instance of salmonella.
The investigation was launched in August 2016 after 16 recalls of ice cream products in the prior three-year period and an outbreak of listeriosis linked to an ice cream maker in 2015 that involved three deaths.
Our work continues after a food recall is over. Today, FDA’s Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, released findings from one of our many assignments to promote food safety – Inspection & Environmental Sampling of Ice Cream Production Facilities. https://t.co/3SvLg0dMnx pic.twitter.com/bbCG3ph3Oz
— FDA FOOD (@FDAfood) April 24, 2019
“Although many of these facilities were adhering to good manufacturing practices, we did find that some were in violation of the law,” said Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response.
“These results serve as an important reminder to all food facilities distributing products in the US of the importance of complying with rules set forth to mitigate safety issues.”
The FDA said the goal was to determine the prevalence of certain types of harmful bacteria and whether ice cream manufacturers were properly implementing food safety programs.
As a result of the investigation, the FDA said, it suspended the food facility registration of Florida-based Working Cow Homemade in 2018, although the suspension was lifted after the firm stopped making ice cream and switched to distributing products made by other ice cream makers.
The company also made two voluntary recalls of its ice cream because of potential contamination with listeria monocytogenes, the FDA said.
Pennsylvania-based Nelson’s Creamery recalled one of its products because of an undeclared amount of soy lecithin, a food additive, the FDA added.
Recent Recall
Almond Butter and Other Nut Butters
Wakefern Food Corp. has announced the voluntary recall of five types of nut butters because they might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause the potentially fatal listeriosis.
All of the nut butters were sold under the Wholesome Pantry Organic brand, and they were distributed in ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, and Dearborn Market stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Virginia, according to an alert posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 28.
The products are as follows:
Wholesome Pantry Organic Creamy Salted Almond Butter
UPC: 04119006004
Wholesome Pantry Organic Creamy Unsalted Almond Butter
UPC: 04119006005
Wholesome Pantry Organic Unsalted Sunflower Butter
UPC: 04119005827
Wholesome Pantry Organic Tahini Butter
UPC: 04119005828
Wholesome Pantry Organic Cashew Butter
UPC: 04119006006
No varieties of peanut butter were included in the recall.
The products were packed in 16-ounce plastic jars, and they all have best-by dates of June 2020 or earlier.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
