E Pine-headquartered Molly Moon’s ice cream shops remained shuttered Friday after closing just before Christmas in response to the discovery of listeria at the plant that supplies the local chain’s milk and cream base.
UPDATE 11:30 AM: Molly Moon’s has announced its shops are re-opened for the New Year:
happy new year!!! we’re so excited to reopen all our shops today, and hope you’ll come visit us for the first weekend of 2015! our current seasonal flavors are eggnog ice cream, chocolate orange ice cream, clementine sorbet, and of course, vegan salted caramel ice cream! and my favorite seasonal ice cream is coming out january 12th: meyer lemon ice cream! see you soon!
♥
molly moonp.s. thank you so much for all of your support these last few days! we’ve gotten a lot of love from our customers and community and it means the world to me.
Original report: The Seattle Times reports that Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream first failed a health inspection in October before it was shut down Christmas week after two cases of listeria poisoning were linked to its Snohomish plant. Snoqualmie supplies “ice cream products, sorbet and gelato” to Whole Foods and Fred Meyer as well as smaller businesses like the Space Needle and Molly Moon’s.
After listeria-related illnesses were confirmed in two King County men prompted another state inspection in December, Snoqualmie officials decided to recall all of the company’s 2014 products.
Christmas week, company owner Molly Moon Neitzel told CHS she didn’t expect the situation would end her company’s relationship with Snoqualmie Gourmet. The Molly Moon ice cream stores will remain closed “until all our kitchens can be tested,” a brief statement posted by the company reads.
One Seattle ice cream business owner is using the moment to draw attention to the use of bases from “large manufacturing plants” — here’s a statement emailed to CHS by Ballard-headquartered Parfait:
Chef Adria Shimada of Parfait reiterated her dedication to producing ice cream the old fashioned way — that is by making her custard bases from scratch and not purchasing them from large manufacturing plants. Her steadfast adherence to these artisanal practices at her Ballard workshop are particularly poignant given last week’s Listeria food poisoning outbreaks and product recall announcement from Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream and other ice cream retailers that purchase their bases.
The Parfait truck is a regular component of 15th Ave E summers with its ongoing pop-up appearances.
Listeria bacteria can cause serious infections in people with compromised immune systems including young children, pregnant women, and the elderly. The CDC estimates that approximately 1,600 illnesses and 260 deaths due to listeriosis occur annually in the United States but says that the incidence has dropped by more than 40% since the late ’90s.
Born in Wallingford, Molly Moon’s opened its E Pine flagship in spring of 2009.
Looks like they’re open for business now.
http://mollymoonicecream.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-news-were-open-for-business.html
Thanks. Will add
Was Parfait on the hill this summer? I never saw them up on 15th, and I looked – their ice cream is fantastic. We went to the truck all the time the previous summer when they would park outside the video store, miss it very much. While I would like to be more supportive of Molly Moon (the owner is active in the community and treats their staff well), I wish their ice cream was better – maybe this will motivate them to improve.
Yup — here’s one example https://twitter.com/parfaiticecream/status/482668882138640386
Um, Molly Moon is well known for NOT being community-minded unless it is profitable to be so. Look to Cupcake Royale’s Jody Hall for a fine example of someone who gives to the community without expecting anything back from it.
Really unfortunate but I guess if it had to happen this is the best time of year. Better now than during warmer months. Any idea if the employees were still paid while they were closed?
Company says employees were paid during the closure
What parfaits point is and other small local ice cream shops when it comes to this is that Molly Moons is not a from scratch ice cream shop like it claims. They buy an ice cream base from Snoqualmie so it is not from scratch/ home made. It is not artisan. It’s crap. They make a false claim that its “homemade”. Garbage.
Yeah, I was disappointed to learn that, although custard base is pretty fungible, and they could certainly do worse than Snoqualmie.
Also, I don’t see where they claim to be “artisanal” (just “homemade” which is a meaningless term, unless you actually think that means they’re making it in someone’s home kitchen). Even if they did, though, where is the “artisanal” line supposed to be drawn? Are they expected to milk their own cows and have their own egg chickens?
They’re at least doing their own flavor formulations (and of course it’s not like they’re making their own Thin Mints for the Mint Scout either, right?)
I believe that Parfait makes all of the cookies for thier products
sure it is. The final product is completed under Molly Moon’s control.
It’s obvious rubyrecalcitrant has an axe to grind, but let’s be real. There’s no misrepresentation going on here.
If you don’t like the place, don’t go there. Simple as that. They paid their employees during the closure and that to me is huge.
Wow! Eggnog ice cream! Eggs being one of the most common sources of salmonella poisoning.
Not sure where you got that info, but it’s wrong.
Probably from “common knowledge.” Which is wrong.
So, where is Molly Moon getting its ice cream base now? Even without listeria (which is really bad and serious), Snoqualmie seems like an irresponsible choice. According to the report on the Times, Snoqualmie had “dried, flaking residue” on parts of the pasteurizer vat…“black slime” outside a walk-in cooler, and “black build up and hairlike growth” on multiple milk crates used to store utensils. Gross. How can people be assured Molly Moon’s ice cream is safe and clean?
Maybe it’s a safe choice for the moment? Snoqualmie received such bad press over their issues that they don’t dare let it get the least bit dirty in the short term.
I called the shop and they said they are using Edaleen now. Edaleen is the cheap milk you find at 7-eleven. It’s also the same dairy in all of Snoqualmie’s stuff in the first place. The source of the listeria contamination hasn’t been determined yet, and they just go back to using the same dairy? Terrible.