Recall of pistachio products at Montreal’s Iconoglace ice cream shops

The Iconoglace shop on Laurier Avenue West in the Mile End. (Source: Google Street View)

Consumers are being warned that products containing pistachios at a popular ice cream shop in Montreal may have been contaminated with salmonella.

Quebec’s Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation (MAPAQ) and Montreal’s food inspection department issued a recall of the “Pistaches-tu?” (“Do you really pistachio”) product, sold frozen in a plastic container in the 500 ml format at Iconoglace.

The units were sold until Aug. 25 at the shop’s two locations: 1320 Bélanger Street in La Petite-Patrie and at 50 Laurier Avenue West in the Mile End. No illnesses have been reported and the recall is being issued as a precautionary measure.

MAPAQ says the recall is linked to the Canada-wide salmonella outbreak related to contaminated pistachios.

Anyone who purchased the recalled product should not consume it. They should return it to the store where they purchased it or throw it out.

“Even if the products in question show no signs of alteration or suspect odor, their consumption may represent a health risk,” the notice reads.

Salmonella poisoning can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections for young people, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with weak or compromised immune systems. Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, sometimes accompanied by blood in the stool, which can appear between six and 72 hours after consumption.

Most illnesses reported in Quebec

The salmonella outbreak in Canada has led to 62 reported illnesses since July affecting people between the ages of two and 89 years old, with the majority of cases (45) occurring in Quebec.

There have been 10 hospitalizations in Canada related to the outbreak. No deaths have been reported.

More information about the ongoing outbreak is available on the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website.