Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream To Reopen Scoop Shops After Listeria Contamination

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream will reopen scoop shops by Memorial Day weekend.

A week after Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream announced it had pinpointed the source of the listeria contamination that led to the Ohio-based company recalling all of its products and closing its boutique stores, the treats maker has restored production –– just in time for summer.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Jeni’s Splendid has reworked production to prevent future contamination and plans to reopen its scoop shops by Memorial Day weekend.

The company prevoiusly identified the source of the listeria contamination at its production kitchen to a single pint-filling machine.

Since finding the issue, Jeni’s has turned its focus to creating a production kitchen with the best defenses against any contamination. To do so, the company has enlisted top food safety experts and plans to invest more than $200,000 into the kitchen transformation.

Although Jeni’s recall included closing boutique ice cream shops, the contaminated machine was not used to produce ice cream scooped at those stores.

Still, because the company destroyed hundreds of thousands of pounds of ice cream during the initial recall, guests shouldn’t expect all flavors to be available at scoop stores right away.

The company says it will take time to rebuild its supply. But with the assistance of several other Ohio-based Ice cream producers, it hopes to be back to full demand soon.

Jeni’s Splendid recalled all of its products on April 23 after the Nebraska Department of Agriculture found listeria in a random sample of the company’s products.

The recall covered all products including ice creams, frozen yogurts, sorbets, and ice cream sandwiches sold at boutique stores in seven states and at retailers such as Whole Foods and Target.

A week after the recall was initiated, Jeni’s announced it would dispose of 535,000 pounds of ice cream by placing it in an anaerobic digester, which provides electricity while it digests and produces fertilizer.

Jeni’s to reopen ice cream shops by Memorial Day weekend [Chicago Tribune]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist