Food Safety Alert

Fast Facts

Illnesses: 23Hospitalizations: 22Deaths: 1States: 10Recall: NoInvestigation status: Active

Representative image for this outbreak

What Everyone Should Do

Consumers who have Big Olaf Creamery brand ice cream at home should throw away any remaining product.

Clean any areas, containers, and serving utensils that may have touched Big Olaf ice cream products.

What Businesses Should Do

Do not serve or sell any Big Olaf ice cream products.

Big Olaf Creamery in Sarasota, FL, is voluntarily contacting retail locations to recommend against selling their ice cream products until further notice.

Clean and disinfect any areas and equipment that may have touched Big Olaf ice cream products, including ice cream scoops and other serving utensils.

What People at Higher Risk Should Do

Listeria is most likely to sicken pregnant people and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems. Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these Listeria symptoms:

Pregnant people typically experience only fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. However, Listeria infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

People who are not pregnant may experience headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, in addition to fever and muscle aches.

About Listeria

Listeria can cause severe illness (known as invasive listeriosis) when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body.
Pregnant people, adults 65 years or older, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for severe illness.

Symptoms of severe illness usually start within 2 weeks after eating food contaminated with Listeria, but may start as early as the same day or as late as 70 days after.

Listeria can also cause common food poisoning symptoms, like diarrhea and fever. People who experience these symptoms usually recover without treatment.