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The CDC reported 23 illnesses, 22 hospitalizations, and one death across 10 states from the food safety alert. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating an outbreak of Listeria infections linked to a Florida brand of ice cream, the agency said Saturday.
The CDC says consumers who have the ice cream at home should throw it away and clean areas, containers and utensils that may have touched the product.
The ice cream brand is based in Sarasota and is only sold in Florida.
Big Olaf Creamery products are sold to ice cream shops, senior homes, restaurants, fairs, and supermarkets. Its ice cream is made at a local creamery near Sarasota’s Amish Village of PineCraft.
As a result of this investigation, Big Olaf Creamery in Sarasota, FL, is voluntarily contacting retail locations to recommend against selling their ice cream products. Consumers who have Big Olaf Creamery brand ice cream at home should throw away any remaining product,” according to a notice posted tonight by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whole-genome sequencing showed that bacteria from sick people’s samples are closely related genetically. This means that people in this outbreak likely got sick from the same food.
Big Olaf Creamery, a family-owned company in Sarasota, Fla., exclusively sells ice cream in Florida, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Of those hospitalized, 10 people lived out of state and had visited Florida in the previous month, the C.D.C. said.
Big Olaf Creamery’s web site calls the ice cream “A Florida Tradition Since 1982,” saying it “has been family owned and operated for 25 Years.”
“All of our ice creams is handmade in batch freezers just like the good old days!” the website says. “Creamery direct delivery to most of Florida. Our primary focus is to serve ice cream parlors, senior homes, restaurants, fairs, and supermarkets with a full range of premium frozen products.”
Consumers and businesses should immediately dispose of any remaining Big Olaf Creamery brand ice cream and clean surfaces that may have had contact with it.
Listeria, one of the most dangerous forms of food poisoning, can be treated with antibiotics, but pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at high risk of severe illness. Symptoms usually start one to four weeks after eating contaminated food, but can start as soon as the same day.
The Big Olaf Creamery ice cream is only sold in Florida, and “nearly all” of those infected were from or traveled to Florida in the months preceding the infection.
One death was reported in Illinois. One of the five people who were infected was a pregnant woman. A fetal loss has been reported as well.
Of 17 people interviewed by the C.D.C., 14 said they had consumed ice cream. Six people reported eating ice cream made by Big Olaf or having ice cream at a location where the brand might have been supplied.
Big Olaf’s ice cream is made by Amish craftsmen at a creamery near Pinecraft, which is a neighborhood in Sarasota, according to the company’s website.
Big Olaf began contacting retail locations on Friday to recommend against selling the product, said the C.D.C., which advised customers to discard any remaining products from the brand. A full recall has not been issued.
The infections tied to Big Olaf ice cream products occurred over the last six months and affected people less than a year old to 92 years old, the C.D.C. said. Five became ill during pregnancy, with one experiencing a fetal loss.