Decatur Ice Cream Shop Closing Due to Production Issue

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Credit: Patch File

A Decatur Square ice cream store will be closed for the time being while its parent company tries to track down the source of a persistent bacterial contamination.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream announced on Friday that Listeria had reappeared in its production kitchen just under a month after reopening the kitchen after a previous Listeria contamination.

“Since resuming production on May 13, we have been testing every batch of ice cream we have made and holding it until we learned that the testing did not detect any Listeria,” CEO John Lowe said in a statement. “So it is with complete confidence that we can say all of the ice cream that has been served in our shops since reopening on May 22 has been safe and is 100% Listeria-free.”

Jeni is closing its scoop shops, including its Decatur Square location, because the stores do not have enough ice cream to keep the shelves stocked while the production facility is offline.

“While we would most certainly prefer that Listeria never enter our facility, we do take solace in the fact that our protocols and testing have worked: we found the Listeria before it got into ice cream we served,” Lowe said. “This finding and our ceasing of production enables us the opportunity to prevent contamination and continue to ensure the safety of our customers.”

Listeria can cause an infection marked by fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, but can also prove fatal to children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. Pregnant women infected with Listeria can also miscarry or suffer stillbirths, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.