Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : None Reported Ill From Suspect Ice Milk Mix

A recall of 4,000 half-gallons of potentially contaminated ice milk mix turned up just 20 units, and a distributor’s spokesman said Tuesday that the rest was apparently consumed.

But neither the distributor nor state health officials had any reports of illnesses traced to the mix, they said.

State health and agriculture officials announced Tuesday that Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria that can cause serious illness and stillbirths, had been found in a sampling of Adohr Milk Farms’ vanilla ice milk mix.

Adohr began a recall Friday of all of the mix with the code number Dec 02, but could find just 20 half-gallons, said Gary San Filippo, division manager of Adohr’s Santa Ana plant. “Unfortunately, most of the product was already consumed, (but) there’s no notification from anyone of any illness,” he said.

San Filippo said the recall was delayed because it takes nine to 14 days after a test to get results.

The mix was sold to restaurants for soft-serve ice cream and milk shakes, state Department of Health Services officials said. Most recipients of the mix are in Southern California, but a small amount was distributed by the company’s San Leandro facility near Oakland, they said.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis--a serious, sometimes-fatal infection that can be manifested in several ways, including meningitis, encephalitis and miscarriages, state officials said. The most serious risk is to pregnant women and their fetuses, small children, frail, elderly people and people with weak immune systems.