SAFEWAY RECALLS SINGLE LOT OF PRIVATE-LABEL ICE CREAM

MARYELLEN LO BOSCO

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway has recalled one lot of its private-label Lucerne Ghiradelli Chocolate Almond ice cream because it may contain peanuts, which are not listed as an ingredient.

The half-gallon containers have a code date of S 7 APR 16 and plant number of PLT 53-38. They may have been distributed to Safeway stores in Oregon, Washington, northern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Nevada.

Since peanuts can cause a serious or even life-threatening allergic reaction in some people, Safeway recalled the ice cream after a customer complained of finding a peanut in a carton.

Debra Lambert, a company spokeswoman, said Safeway is confident the incident is an isolated one.

"We save samples of production runs, and had [samples of] before and after the run [of the suspect ice cream]," she said. "In our tests we didn't find any peanuts. [The possibility of] peanuts getting into the whole batch of ice cream is unlikely."

According to Lambert, Safeway has "systems in place" to ensure that ingredients do not unintentionally make their way into products.

The safeguards include sanitary procedures in which all equipment is flushed out after each use.

This is the second time in eight months that the retailer recalled a private-label product. Last September, Safeway recalled a batch of private-label chocolate-chip cookies because peanuts were suspected as a possible unlisted ingredient.