1109 State Street,
Santa Barbara,
93101
California,
United States
February 1, 2020, at 1:47 PM. I purchased 3 Haagen Daz ice creams, 14 oz size, assorted flavors, at this store. The first one was consumed immediately, the same day. It appeared to be OK. The second one was consumed later that evening. The second one seemed to be OK, but as I got closer to the bottom, it was obvious it had not been refrigerated properly. The bottom had melted and then refrozen, before I bought it. Ck'd my freezer, the thermometer showed a temp of minus 5 degrees F.
Developed nausea a few hours later that night, then extreme fatigue for the better part of a week, Notified the store manager, of the refrozen ice cream and asked him to ck with his vendor to try to prevent future occurrences. He sent me an email a few days later indicating he wanted to discuss it with me. Saw him Feb 7th, Thursday, at the store. I told him I wanted to discuss it as well but was in a hurry, would do it later when it was mutually convenient. He, not to be put off, followed me down the back stairs and started an apparently prepared speech. YOU ARE MAKING A LOT OF COMPLAINTS. IT SEEMS WE CAN'T PLEASE YOU. NO ONE HAS EVER COMPLAINED BEFORE. He even quoted the ice cream vendor, who was not present, as saying, he, the vendor had never a complaint about melted ice cream, he repeated his speech several more times with the additional filip that, "YOU WOULD BE HAPPIER GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE.”
As background, the store freezer, full of ice cream, had malfunctioned a short time before that. Many pints of ice cream had melted but were refrozen when the freezer came back on. I mentioned to him, at the time, those ice creams should be disposed of. The vendor or he may have been putting a few pints of refrozen, spoiled, ice cream back in the freezer in an attempt to minimize the dollar loss.
Whatever the cause, spoiled ice cream should not be sold. Telling customers to go somewhere else is not an effective way of dealing with concerns about spoiled products. They and the Health Department need to take the necessary steps to prevent future occurrences. | Symptoms: Diarrhea, Nausea, Vomiting, Fatigue
