Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Resumes Production
Five months after shutting down production due to Listeria contamination, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams’ Columbus, OH facility is now back in business. For now, the facility will only be used for making certain ice cream ingredients.
Back in April, swab testing confirmed that Listeria was found on a machine spout located inside the Columbus plant. At the time, it was unknown how the machine originally became contaminated. Jeni’s responded by recalling all of its frozen products and shutting down all production. Prior to this occurrence, the company had an excellent food safety record.
In a new blog post, owner Jeni Britton Bauer calls the Listeria issue a “blind spot”, admitting that the company had “an insufficient Listeria control program. For that, we take full responsibility and make no excuses.”
CEO John Lowe said last spring that Jeni’s would enlist “some of the world’s top food safety experts to help” with their new food safety efforts. Since May, Jeni’s has initiated a new Listeria control program. Since then, the company has conducted almost 200 swab tests each day for two months straight--all of which have been negative since June.
Jeni’s estimates that the popular ice cream pints will return to store shelves either before or during the holidays.
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