Recall Check: Ice Cream, Salted Plums Recalled Due to Possible Listeria, Lead Contamination

Update (2/28):

• Alli & Rose LLC dried plums are also being recalled due the potential presence of lead.
• In a recall notice, the company says the dried plums were sold at Costco Wholesale in Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington. They were sold between April 2021 and February 2022 with the barcode 810019600821 and item code 1516905.
• The company is asking consumers not to eat the dried plums and to return them to their local Costco for a full refund.

Update (2/15):

• The Royal Ice Cream Company, Inc. of Manchester, CT is expanding its recall to include all products manufactured at the facility within expiry, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the recall notice.
• The affected ice cream was distributed in retail stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and New Hampshire.
• Click here to see the effected brands.

The Royal Ice Cream Company and El Super Leon Ponchin Recall Overview:

• Who: The Royal Ice Cream Company, Inc. is recalling some of its Batch Ice Cream and El Super Leon Ponchin Snacks Inc is recalling Saladitos Dry Salted Plums.
• Why: A range of the Royal Ice Cream Company’s ice creams risk listeria contamination, while El Super Leon Ponchin Snacks Inc.’s Saladitos Dry Salted Plums have high levels of lead.
• Where: The recalls affect California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maryland.

Tubs of ice cream and packets of dry salted plums have been pulled from shelves in a number of states due to possible listeria and lead contamination, which both pose serious health risks to consumers.

The Royal Ice Cream Company, Inc. is recalling some of its Batch Ice Cream brand vanilla, ginger and mocha chip ice cream after the ice creams were found by Food and Drug Administration testing to have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Meanwhile, San Diego company El Super Leon Ponchin Snacks Inc.is recalling Saladitos Dry Salted Plums with and without Chili, sold under the El Leoncito and El Super Leon brands, because they have the potential to be contaminated with lead.

Risk of Serious Infection

In a recall notice, Royal Ice Cream Company says the listeria organism can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The affected ice cream was distributed to Market Baskets in Massachusetts, Big Y Stores in Maryland and Connecticut and Roach Brothers Markets in Maryland.

The ice creams are packaged in paper 16 oz. pints with the Batch Ice Cream brand name and flavors clearly shown on the front. They are coded with the Date of Manufacture as 1/19/22 and Best By: 7/19/23, found on the bottom of the cup. UPC for vanilla is 837654968505, ginger is 83765496856 and mocha chip is 83765496853.

So far, the company says there have been no illnesses reported. It is urging consumers to return affected ice cream tubs to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Salted Plums Could Contain Lead

El Super Leon Ponchin Snacks’ recall was initiated after the California Department of Public Health analyzed a sample from a store and the lab results showed the items had unsafe levels of lead.

In a recall notice, the company says the products were distributed in California to different retail stores, grocery stores, convenience stores and cash-and-carry stores. Products are packaged in plastic peg bags and usually sold near the registers at the stores. All of the lot codes for the product are included in the recall.

The affected products are sold under brands El Leoncito and El Super Leon and each package has a net weight of 1.05 oz., 1.4 oz., and 16 oz. The Dry Salted Plum product is packaged with a green top packaging, and the Dry Salted Plum with Chili and chamoy is packaged with red top packaging.

The recall notice says that exposure to large amounts of lead can cause lead poisoning, which includes the symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting, lethargy, irritability, weakness, behavior or mood changes, delirium, seizures and coma.

It adds that infants, young children and the developing fetus can be affected by chronic exposure to amounts of lead that may not result in obvious symptoms of lead poisoning, but it can cause learning disabilities, developmental delays and lower IQ scores.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

Consumers are being told to discard any of the affected Dry Salted Plums from El Super Leon and El Leoncito.

Let us know in the comments section if either of these recalls affect you!

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