Ice cream bars sold at Giant Eagle, other stores recalled

Jan. 10--A New York company whose products have been sold at stores across the country including Giant Eagle has issued a recall on ice cream bars that may contain a bacterium that can cause fatal infections.

Fieldbrook Foods Corp. of Dunkirk, N.Y., produced the ice cream bars and sold them under merchant brands. They have a production date of Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 31, 2017, and a "best by" date of Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2018.

At Giant Eagle, the recalled products are 12-packs of traditional Giant Eagle ice cream bars, 12-packs of Giant Eagle orange ice cream bars and 30-count variety packs of Giant Eagle ice cream bars.

The products possibly are contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Routine testing revealed the presence of the bacterium.

"Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women," the company said in a Tuesday press release.

No illnesses have been reported to date, the company said.

There is no evidence of any contamination before Oct. 31, but Fieldbrook Foods issued the recall back to Jan. 1, 2017, through an abundance of caution and in full cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the release said.

The company said it has suspended production and distribution of all products produced on the affected production line while it cooperates with the FDA to investigate the source of the contamination.

Fieldbrook Foods said customers who have products affected by the recall should discard them immediately or return them to their local store for a full refund.

Madasyn Czebiniak is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com, or on Twitter @maddyczebstrib.

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