Brooklyn kosher ice cream chain recalls all of its ice cream and frozen desserts due to listeria fears

(New York Jewish Week) — A kosher ice cream chain in Brooklyn is voluntarily recalling all of its ice cream and pareve frozen desserts after it was linked to a recent listeria outbreak from another kosher ice cream manufacturer.

The recall was announced by the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday and lists more than 90 frozen treats sold by the Ice Cream House, a chain of kosher dairy eateries in Brooklyn that was recently featured in an episode of the Netflix reality show “Jewish Matchmaking.” The chain has salads, sandwiches and pizza on its menu, in addition to frozen desserts.

Ice Cream House said in an automated voicemail message that it has closed its Borough Park location for maintenance until further notice. The chain’s other two locations — in Williamsburg and Flatbush, which, like Borough Park, have large Orthodox populations — remain open, according to the automated message. Ice Cream House did not respond to requests for comments.

The recall also applies to Ice Cream House frozen products sold in grocery stores.

According to the FDA, the Ice Cream House recall is related to a listeria outbreak in a line of ice cream cups called Soft Serve on the Go, made by Klein’s Real Kosher, which were separately recalled earlier this month. The FDA has matched listeria found in those products to a food-borne illness that hospitalized two people in New York and Pennsylvania.

The FDA did not elaborate on how the recalls of Ice Cream House products and Soft Serve on the Go are linked. Klein’s Real Kosher, the Brooklyn-based frozen food company that produces Soft Serve on the Go, said on its website that the cups “are manufactured at their own dedicated facility” and that their recall earlier this month did not affect any other products.

The relationship between Ice Cream House and Klein’s is likewise unclear. However, the two companies appear to be connected: One option on Klein’s main phone menu directs callers to Ice Cream House’s headquarters.

When the soft serve recall was announced on Aug. 9, Ice Cream House posted the notice on its Instagram profile and wrote, “We hope that Soft Serve On The Go will come back to delivering their safe & high quality product shortly.”

Klein’s, which also appears to go by Real Kosher Ice Cream, also did not respond to a request for comment. Its soft serve products are distributed via retailers in 20 states, and production of those products has temporarily stopped, the FDA reported.

Infections from listeria can be serious and sometimes fatal. Symptoms can include high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Listeria infections can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

On Aug. 14, a class action lawsuit was filed against Real Kosher Ice Cream by customers who had bought some of the affected ice creams, claiming the company “improperly, deceptively, and misleadingly labeled and marketed its Products to reasonable consumers… by omitting and not disclosing to consumers on its packaging that consumption of the Products may increase the risk of contracting invasive infections.”

The investigation into the outbreak is ongoing.