Major ice cream brand issues urgent recall over contamination concerns — see the full list of affected products

A major ice cream producer recalled nearly 17,000 tubs of the sweet treat because of possible plastic contamination.

What's happening?

Wells Enterprises — based in Le Mars, Iowa, and the largest family-owned and privately held ice cream operation in the country — issued the recall April 25. It covers 22 three-gallon tubs of ice cream and frozen yogurt that were at risk from foreign plastic material, Food Safety News reported.

The 17,866 tubs should be returned or thrown out. They were distributed by 103 companies across the nation, with best-by dates from March 2026 through October 2026. See the full list of products here.

Plastic in food can cause choking, injury, and illness. This is a Class II recall, meaning the risk is low, but people could suffer temporary health effects.

Why is this important?

The chocolate, vanilla bean, peanut butter, fudge, and other desserts may set mouths watering, but food contamination is a major issue.

Even setting aside instances such as this one, microplastics and nanoplastics enter food through the environment because the pollutants are ubiquitous in air, soil, and water. This includes animal and vegetable proteins as well as fruits and vegetables, CNN reported last year.

Salt, sugar, tea bags, rice, and bottled water are significant sources of the contamination. Because these foreign objects present major health risks, government agencies and watchdog groups must work to hold food manufacturers, processors, packagers, and distributors accountable. Chemical and fast food companies are some of the biggest offenders, according to Consumer Reports.

What's being done about food safety?

Food recalls help maintain safety standards, though the Trump administration's federal funding and workforce cuts may cause the Food and Drug Administration to outsource routine inspections to state and local agencies, CBS News reported in April.

On the other hand, the FDA and Health and Human Services plan to increase testing of infant formula.

You can avoid microplastics and other contaminants by eating organic and avoiding plastic and nonstick cookware, which is made with forever chemicals and sheds microplastics. Do not put hot food in plastic containers, and refrain from microwaving food in plastic vessels.

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