In November 2022, a Listeria outbreak in ice cream resulted in 28 people becoming ill across 11 states with one death and one miscarriage.

In 2023, a soft serve brand was recalled in 19 states due to Listeria illnesses, and a Listeria outbreak linked to milkshakes in Washington caused six hospitalizations and three deaths.

So far in 2024, there have been recalls for Listeria, Salmonella, unlabeled allergens, and foreign materials in ice cream. This underscores why the checkoff-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has made food safety a priority so we can keep dairy safe for consumers and out of the headlines.

Beyond the health implications, recalls are very costly with losses of product, production, and sales. There are also large costs from reputation damage and the potential for future litigation.

While much of the Innovation Center’s focus has been on protecting the safety of milk, cheese, and yogurt, by no means has ice cream been overlooked. As we say, a food safety issue for one dairy brand is a food safety issue for all dairy brands. We never want consumers to question the products they love, and that includes ice cream.

That is why our checkoff- and industry-created tools can support ice cream companies of any size, including farmers who are processing products at their dairies. Having these science-backed tools and creating a food safety program will help minimize risks and maintain consumer trust.

Because not everyone has the resources of a large corporation, a group of dairy industry experts including processors, universities, consultants, and industry associations volunteer together through the Innovation Center to support the growing ice cream industry by developing free food safety tools and resources everyone can use.

We have many resources for small processors at www.usdairy.com/artisan, and we’ve built www.safeicecream.org to house everything for ice cream makers in one place. Resources include online training classes, in-person workshops, free one-on-one technical support, guidance documents, templates, checklists, a map of local food safety experts, and more.

We know all food companies face challenges with hiring, retaining, and training employees, so providing easy access to ice cream-specific training materials is one of our goals. The online workshop is a good place to start, and you can click here to watch the Good Manufacturing Procedure module as an example. Registration for the course is free for groups such as North Carolina State University and the North American Ice Cream Association, which helped develop it. Click here and enter promo code IC-FREE for the full course.

Another great way to protect your business is by visiting the Growing Your Business Safely section of the website and reviewing the checklist. Please also know help is available by emailing me at Tim.Stubbs@Dairy.org or get free food safety plan assistance at dairyfoodsafetycoach@cornell.edu.