Listeria can be deadly
Listeria monocytogenes, also called LM, can cause severe and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, as well as those with weakened immune systems.
Although healthy individuals may only suffer 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.
In the United States, an estimated 1,600 people become seriously ill with Listeria each year; with about 16% of the cases resulting in death.
Fortunately for Drumstick lovers, the recent recall is nothing like Blue Bell’s scare a short year ago. In April 2015, Blue Bell ice cream recalled its ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and other frozen treats in 23 states, after a deadly outbreak of Listeria. According to the Center for Disease Control, the outbreak which dated back to 2010, resulted in 10 people falling ill in four states, as well as three deaths in Kansas.
Nestlé stated that while both recalls involve Listeria and ice cream, the similarities ended there.
“Our situation is much different from Blue Bell’s in a number of significant ways, including: (1) we have received no reports of human illnesses; (2) we have no listeria findings in the ice cream itself (just the equipment); (3) we have only one product line affected; (4) we have only one facility affected; and (5) we self-identified this event and took precautionary steps to recall product.,” Nestle said in a statement.