FDA Scolds Aspen Hills Cookie Dough Facility for Poor Cleaning, Sanitizing
A letter sent to Aspen Hills from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blames the company for not doing enough to prevent the spread of Listeria monocytogenes in their processing facility.
The letter, sent in early January 2017, specifically states that the sheer amount of Listeria found in tests of both the facility and cookie dough itself “indicates that your firm is not taking aggressive action to identify harborage sites for L. monocytogenes, to deep clean your facility effectively, and to prevent finished product contamination," The letter allotted Aspen Hills 15 days to correct the problems.
Last fall, Blue Bell Creameries recalled packages of its ice cream flavors containing chocolate chip cookie dough due to the possibility of Listeria contamination. The implicated ice creams were produced at a plant in Alabama and the products were distributed to 10 states--Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Blue Bell quickly shifted blame to Aspen Hills, the third party supplier who provided the cookie dough for the ice cream. At the time, Aspen Hills maintained that their product was not contaminated.
In late September 2016, FDA detected four positive environmental swabs at the Aspen Hills plant, and traces of Listeria were found in 10 places throughout the facility. Some of the oddest places were:
One finished batch of cookie dough that tested positive for Listeria was not distributed