Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt Recall Includes 22 Products, Over 17,000 Tubs

Forbes

17-05-2025

Rocky road ice cream from Wells Dairy is included in the recall. But accidentally ingesting the ice ... More cream won't necessarily mean a rocky road for you. (Photo: Getty)
Life in plastic may be fantastic if you're a Barbie girl in the Barbie world. But plastic in ice cream? Not so good. That's why potential contamination with plastic material has prompted Wells Enterprises, also known as Wells Dairy, to voluntarily recall of 22 different types of its ice cream and frozen yogurt products. This recall was initiated on April 25, which by the way was not a Sunday, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration enforcement report.
You could call this a 'tub thumping' situation because all the recalled products came in three-gallon tubs, totaling over 17,000 tubs. Here are the products, their universal product codes and their lot numbers:
As you can see, lots and lots of ice cream and frozen yogurt are part of the recall. It includes ones that are fat-free but may not be necessarily plastic free. These products have 'Best If Used By' dates that range from March 2026 to October 2026. But for all of these, the 'Best If used By' date should be 'never.' If you do have one of these products, either return it for a refund or discard it. And make sure that you discard in a way that your pets, kids or significant other who behaves like a pet or a kid doesn't still accidentally eat it.
This FDA classified this recall as a Class II one, which the FDA considers to be 'a situation in which use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.'
A lot of the things I recently said in Forbes about glass fragments in bread apply to plastic fragments in ice cream as well. Naturally, you don't want to voluntarily eat plastic. There are reasons why people don't typically munch on their plastic spoons after they've used them to eat their ice cream.
While swallowing bits of plastic is not the same as swallowing a bunch of steak knives, plastic pieces could potentially do some damage if they are large and sharp enough. Sharp pieces could potentially cut through the lining of your mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, intestines or other parts of your gastrointestinal tract, potentially leading to bleeding, damage and infections. Larger plastic fragments could potentially end up obstructing parts of your GI tract.
It's not clear from the FDA report how large these plastic fragments are, though. Chances are they aren't the size of a lawn chair. If they are small and dull enough, most likely they will pass rather safely through your GI tract. Within two to three days or possibly more, poop there is, with the plastic fragments that is.
Small amounts of plastic probably won't have any toxic effects either. Consistently and regularly eating large amounts of plastic may be a different story, depending on the type and stability of the plastic. But that doesn't look like the situation here.
If you suspect that you've ingested any amount of plastic, it can't hurt to contact your doctor to get some guidance. Describe as best you can the size and shape of the plastic. Certainly notify a health professional if you've got symptoms like chest or abdominal discomfort or bloating, fever, blood in the stool or coughing up blood.
So ingesting a rocky road ice cream with small plastic fragments won't necessarily mean a rocky road for you. All of this could simply pass, both figuratively and literally.