Nine of 100 Big Olaf environmental samples collected test positive for listeria

Several environmental samples collected at Big Olaf Creamery's Cattlemen Road production facility tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, state officials said Wednesday.

Of 100 samples collected by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services last week, nine tested positive for the bacteria that causes listeriosis, a deadly foodborne illness that infects about 1,600 people per year.

The samples were collected July 7 and tested by the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the production facility. According to documents provided by the department, Listeria monocytogenes were found on the conveyor cross beams that connect machines, in the floor drain end between two machines, in a small squeegee on a three-compartment sink, in a floor drain under a three-compartment sink, on a base floor metal support conveyor between two machines, inside a transfer pipe from pre-mix to the ice cream machine and in a transfer pump outlet on the pasteurized ice cream cooler.

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The department is still awaiting product samples, said Erin M. Moffet, communications director and deputy chief of staff for Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried. The sample results should be available in a few days, but the environmental results prompted issuance of a stop use order of the processing equipment where the bacteria was found.

The company had voluntarily stopped using the facility last week.

"This will effectively shut down all operations at this processing facility, which had already been done voluntarily by the company," Moffet said. She also said that one outstanding environmental sample is taking longer to develop.

Since it's an active investigation, Moffet said she was unable to provide more information.

The bacteria can live inside a food production facility indefinitely if it is not identified through an environmental monitoring program, experts have said. It is not the kind of thing that would show up in a food safety inspection, state officials have said.

Big Olaf issued a formal recall of its ice cream on Friday, July 8, almost a week after an advisory linking its product to a listeria outbreak was issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On July 3, a day after the CDC advisory went out, Big Olaf's Cattlemen Road production facility pushed back on the agency's claims.

"For now it is only speculation as it is an ongoing investigation, our brand has not been confirmed to be linked to these cases, I am not sure why only Big Olaf is being mentioned and targeted," a Facebook post from the creamery read.

The outbreak has led to 23 infections, 22 hospitalizations, one death and one fetal loss, according to statements from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released Monday. Of the 18 people interviewed by public health experts, all said they ate ice cream, and 10 reported eating Big Olaf ice cream or ice cream from a place that may have sold Big Olaf, the FDA said.

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Despite the CDC's warnings and recommendations from the Florida Department of Health, several Big Olaf locations, including stores on South Tamiami Trail and Cattlemen Road, continued to sell the company's ice cream throughout the week. The St. Armands Circle and Siesta Key locations were open July 3 and selling Big Olaf ice cream even after the public health warnings, but both locations had closed by the next day.

Eszter Bazso, the owner of two Big Olaf retail locations, called the reports "fake news" in a July 3 Facebook post.

"The point is this - if there is an ongoing 'Listeria outbreak' where and who is being affected by it?" Bazso wrote in a July 5 email. But in a July 13 Facebook post, Bazso's Cattlemen Road creamery said it would reopen July 14 selling McClain's Homemade Ice Cream

The Friday recall required all retail locations selling Big Olaf to return the product to the production facility.

Some of the Big Olaf licensed retail stores in Sarasota have switched to serving ice cream from other purveyors in order to stay in business. St. Armands and Siesta Key have reopened selling Yoder's ice cream, the Venice location was selling Hershey's on Monday and the Pinecraft store was selling ice cream from the Chocolate Shoppe.

The company has already been sued twice related to the listeria outbreak. On July 5, the estate of Illinois woman Mary Billman sued the production facility, alleging Billman died from listeriosis after consuming Big Olaf's ice cream at the company's Pinecraft location. Later that week, second lawsuit was filed by a Massachusetts couple who claim consuming Big Olaf ice cream at a parlor in Clearwater made the wife, Kristen Hopkins, sick with listeriosis and caused her to miscarry.

All Big Olaf retail locations are individually-owned and licensed. They are not owned by the same people who run the Cattlemen Road production facility.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacteria that causes the infection listeriosis. About 260 deaths each year can also be attributed to the disease.

Pregnant people, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are at highest risk for listeria, according to the CDC. It can cause death and miscarriage in pregnant people.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Listeria found in Big Olaf Creamery samples from Sarasota facility