Ice cream products from multiple brands recalled due to potential listeria contamination: FDA

FDA

(NEW YORK) — A major ice cream producer has recalled products sold by multiple brands due to potential listeria contamination, the Food and Drug Administration said.

The manufacturer — Totally Cool, Inc. of Owings Mills, Maryland — has recalled products from more than a dozen brands, including Friendly’s, Hershey’s Ice Cream, Jeni’s and the Frozen Farmer, due to the “possible health risk,” the FDA said.

No illnesses have been reported to date, the FDA said in its alert on Monday.

“Totally Cool, Inc. has ceased the production and distribution of the affected products due to FDA sampling which discovered the presence of Listeria monocytogenes,” the FDA said. “The company continues its investigation and is taking preventive actions. No other products produced by Totally Cool, Inc. are impacted by this recall.”

ABC News has reached out to Totally Cool for comment.

The full list of recalled products can be found here. They were distributed nationwide, available in retail locations and for direct delivery.

Consumers who have purchased any of the products are asked to return them for a full refund or throw them away.

Taharka Brothers Ice Cream, one of the impacted brands, said it outsourced production of two of its more popular ice cream flavors — honey graham and key lime pie — to Totally Cool.

“While no listeria has been detected in our ice cream, or any of the ice cream produced at Totally Cool, the FDA is requiring a full recall out of an abundance of caution,” Taharka said in a statement.

The company said it will begin making pints of the two flavors at its own factory “immediately.”

Chipwich was also among the brands included in the recall. Crave Better Foods said in a statement Monday that it operates a separate production line at the same Totally Cool facility and has issued a voluntary recall of its vanilla chocolate chip Chipwich ice cream cookie sandwiches “out of an abundance of caution and care for the product and its loyal fans.”

Crave Better Foods said it received a report from the Totally Cool facility about a “possible health issue” on a production line used to make frozen ice cream cakes.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the FDA said.

Symptoms of listeria infection include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, the FDA said. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

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