10 Kinds Of Ice Cream Bars Sold In VA Recalled Due To Listeria Concerns

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat 10 brands of ice cream bars sold in 23 states, including Virginia, because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The affected ice cream bars, manufactured by Florida-based Rich Ice Cream, are identified on the package by lot codes 24351 through 25156. Specific products are:

• Chocolate Crunch Cake Bars
• Strawberry Shortcake Bars
• Rich Bars
• Crumbled Cookie Bars
• Orange Cream Bars
• Fudge Frenzy Bars
• Cotton Candy Twirl Bars
• Savagely Sour Blue Raspberry Bars
• Savagely Sour Cherry Bars
• Cool Watermelon Bars

The ice cream bars were also sold in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

The recall, initiated by the company on June 27, was classified by the FDA as a “Class II” recall on July 17. According to the agency, a Class II recall is “a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. People outside these risk groups are less commonly affected.

Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, and are sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and people with weakened immune systems.

Listeriosis can be treated with antibiotics.

Neither the company nor the FDA offered specific guidance to consumers about what they should do with the ice cream bars if they have them in their freezers, or if refunds will be made available.

Consumers can obtain more information by contacting Rich’s at 561-833-7585 or through the website. The FDA can be reached at 1-888-463-6332.

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