Does the shutdown of a gourmet ice cream company, Dr. Bob’s Handcrafted Ice Cream, have anything to do with the recall of ice cream produced in its facility for possible Listeria contamination? The company’s owner told a local news outlet that it closed because of “business complications.”
The first reports of Listeria-contaminated ice cream turned up just over two weeks ago, and included the brands AC Creamery, McConnell’s, Nancy’s Fancy, L.A. Creamery, and Agave Dream.
No ice cream from the Dr. Bob’s brand was recalled. Some of the brands use multiple facilities to make their products, which means that not all products from the affected companies are suspect.
A reporter from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin stopped by the plant and storefront, which are on the L.A. County Fairgrounds, to see whether anyone was around and to verify that it was indeed closed.
He was able to reach the company’s eponymous Robert on the phone, who could only say that he was in communication with the companies that contracted to make ice cream in his factory, and working with the FDA in the aftermath of the recall. However, he didn’t link the closing to the Listeria problems.
“We made the decision on our own to close, and we’re hoping under new ownership it will open again,” he told the Daily Bulletin.
Dr. Bob’s ice cream company closes after FDA recalls [Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist