Jeni's closed for second listeria outbreak
The artisan ice cream maker previously discovered listeria in its production kitchen in late April.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams has closed its scoop shops for the second time due to a listeria outbreak.
The Ohio-based artisan ice cream maker discovered listeria in its production kitchen again, just seven weeks after the company destroyed more than 265 tons of product and lost at least $2.5 million after listeria was discovered in a pint of dark chocolate ice cream in late April.
Jeni's closed all of its scoop shops for a month and spent more than $200,000 to remodel its production facility. It also implemented new programs for preparing ice cream, testing products and training employees.
The changes to the production facility addressed findings in a Food and Drug Administration report from April that showed inadequate testing and cleaning procedures at the kitchen facility.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy individuals infected by listeria may suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, headaches, nausea and diarrhea.
According to a news release issued Friday, Jeni's has been testing every batch of ice cream made since it resumed production May 13. The company says all ice cream served to customers since the reopening of its shops has been listeria-free.
"While we would most certainly prefer that listeria never enter our facility, we do take solace in the fact that our protocols and testing have worked: We found the listeria before it got into ice cream we served," CEO John Lowe said in a prepared statement.
"This finding and our ceasing of production enables us the opportunity to prevent contamination and continue to ensure the safety of our customers."
The company is investigating where and how the listeria may have entered the production facility for a second time.
The opening of the new Jeni's scoop shop in Hillsboro Village, which was slated for Friday at 7 p.m., is postponed until further notice, according to a company spokeswoman.
Jeni's has additional Nashville locations in 12South, East Nashville and at the Nashville Farmers' Market. Nashville is Jeni's largest market outside of its hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and the company has focused much of its recent growth here.
Jeni Britton Bauer founded the company in 2002.
In an interview with The Tennessean this week, Bauer said the company was working to rebuild, overcome the loss from the listeria scare and perfect the new processes at its production facility.
Stay tuned at www.tennessean.com for more updates.