Three dead after eating ice cream from listeria-contaminated machines

21 August 2023 , 20:57

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Multiple flavours from the same ice cream company were impacted (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Three people have died after eating contaminated ice cream this year with another eight becoming seriously ill and needing to be hospitalised.

Six people in Washington and two from New York and Pennsylvania have contracted Listeria as a result of eating contaminated ice cream from two separate brands. Those in Washington were listed as having consumed Frugals ice cream while the others in New York and Pennsylvania had eaten Real Kosher ice cream.

It's not the first outbreak of Listeria connected to ice cream, with a huge multistate outbreak reported in 2021-2022. Of those, 23 people became ill, 22 were hospitalised and one person died with the brand identified as Big Olaf Creamery, according to the Food Poison Journal.

Mrs Billman enjoyed an ice cream at the Big Olaf Creamery in Sarasota, Florida in January 2022. She died of a Listeria infection on January 29, 2022, leaving behind a husband, children and grandchildren.

Mrs Billman died after eating contaminated ice cream (foodpoisonjournal.com)

It's thought Mrs Billman fell ill on or around January 27 that year and had symptoms consistent with Listeria. She was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital South on January 27 where a stool sample tested positive for Listeria serotype ST5. Mrs Billman died on January 29 and the family was left with medical bills of $89,698.02 (£70,274).

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Further testing confirmed that her Listeria was associated with the 'multistate cluster' identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This was the Listeria outbreak associated with Big Olaf's ice cream.

Listeria can contaminate a wide range of food, with most infections caused by eating chilled, ready-to-eat foods, such as cooked sliced meats and cured meats, smokes meat and cured fish (including sushi), cooked shellfish, soft mould-ripened cheese such as camembert and blue-veined cheese, pâté, pre-prepared sandwiches and salads, pre-cut fruit, unpasteurised milk and dairy products made from unpasteurised milk.

Listeria infections are not usually serious but some people can fall seriously ill (Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

Listeriosis, the infection caused by listeria has no symptoms or only causes mild symptoms for a few days such as a high temperature, aches and pains, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. It usually goes away on its own, but it can make some people seriously ill.

As of June 29, 2022, a total of 23 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes had been reported from 10 states. Of the 22 people there was information for, 20 sick people reported living in or travelling to Florida in the month they got sick - although the significance of this is under investigation.

People became ill on dates ranging from January 24, 2021, through to June 12, 2022. The Florida Department of Health, CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several other states and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected different types of data to investigate the multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections.

As a result of the investigation Big Olaf Creamery in Sarasota voluntarily contacted 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.

Big Olaf Creamery was associated with a multistate listeria outbreak (foodpoisonjournal.com)

People are being interviewed by public health officials about the foods they ate in the month before they got sick. Of the 17 interviewed, 14 of them, or 82 per cent, reported eating ie cream. Among the 13 who remembered details about which ice cream they ate, six reported eating Big Olaf Creamery ice cream or eating ice cream at a location that might have been supplied by Big Olaf Creamery.

Listeria was found on equipment in the ice cream processing facility and in 16 of 17 flavours. At first, Big Olaf refused to recognise that it was the cause of the outbreak and refused to stop production and stop ice cream sales.

Listeria was found on equipment in the ice cream processing facility and in 16 of 17 flavours (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS): "The results from product sampling taken from the Big Olaf production facility last week by FDACS found that 16 of the 17 flavours tested were positive for Listeria monocytogenes (L mono)."

The impacted flavours were:

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• Blueberry Cheesecake
• Butter Pecan
• Cherry Cordial
• Chocolate
• Chocolate Chip
• Coconut
• Coconut Almond Joy
• Cookie Dough
• Cookies 7 Cream
• Kahlua Krunch
• Mint Chip
• Pistachio
• Plantation Praline
• Superman
• Vanilla
• White Chocolate Raspberry

The FDACS said: "With these results, FDACS is currently issuing formal stop sales on the 16 products where L. mono was found, which were previously part of a voluntary recall. Our department continues to work closely with our state and federal partners on this investigation and enforcement of the stop sale."

Fiona Leishman