The food linked to a deadly listeria outbreak: Ice cream from a Florida Amish village
Investigation of the Florida-based listeria outbreak that’s touched nine other states and killed one person leads to ice cream and a Sarasota area Amish community, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s what you need to know about Big Olaf Creamery’s relationship to the listeria outbreak that has killed one person, infected 22 people, 12 of whom live in Florida and another eight of whom were in Florida within a month before infection.
READ MORE: 1 person died, 22 hospitalized in listeria outbreak linked to Florida.
How is Big Olaf Creamery ice cream linked to the outbreak?
The CDC’s Saturday update said investigation of the outbreak with the FDA, Florida Department of Health and other local agencies led to Big Olaf Creamery.
Of the 17 people interviewed, the CDC said, 14 said they ate ice cream. Of the 14, 13 remembered what type of ice cream they ate and six of them reported eating Big Olaf Creamery ice cream or eating at places that might have received its ice cream from Big Olaf Creamery.
READ MORE: If you bought onions at Publix or Wegmans, they might’ve been recalled for listeria
What is Big Olaf Creamery and what is it doing?
Big Olaf hasn’t issued a recall, the CDC said, but is “contacting retail locations to recommend against selling their ice cream products.”
If you have Big Olaf ice cream at home, throw it out.
Big Olaf’s website says, “The ice cream is made at a small creamery in Sarasota’s Amish village of Pinecraft. Every tub of Big Olaf Ice Cream is hand mixed with the finest ingredients and is then churned in batch freezers by local Amish Craftsmen.”
What is listeria?
Listeria kills about 260 of the 1,600 Americans infected each year, by the CDC’s numbers. Senior citizens, pregnant women and children under 5 are the most vulnerable to listeria’s worse effects. Listeria can cause stillbirths and miscarriage and the CDC says one woman suffered a miscarriage in this outbreak.
Listeria symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, high fever, severe headaches, stomachaches, stiffness, confusion and poor balance.
