Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream has traced the source of Listeria problems at its Columbus, Ohio manufacturing facility to one machine used to fill pints, according to the latest update on the company’s website. On April 23, the company recalled all of its ice cream after a sample tested positive for Listeria.
The machine was not used to fill buckets for the company’s ice cream shops, but all the ice cream made prior to the discovery of Listeria will still be destroyed, said CEO John Lowe in the update.
“We’ll never be 100% certain how Listeria got onto the machine. Our job now is to rework our production kitchen into a facility that provides the best defenses against any contamination, and we have enlisted some of the world’s top food safety experts to help in that effort,” said Lowe, in the statement. “So far the conservative estimate of new investment in the transformation of our kitchen is $200,000, but we expect that number to increase. We will spend whatever it takes.”
The company is starting a testing and sampling program and will now process fruits and vegetables at a separate location. Other changes include more cooler space, color-coded hygienic zones to limit the potential for cross contamination, antibacterial foam spray systems for footpaths, and sanitary crystals placed around drain pipes.
