Gifford’s Dairy issued an ice cream recall on August 14 for 3,585 one-quart containers of HomeMaine Power Play Fudge because of possible rubber piece contamination. The affected product reached customers in Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont through grocery stores including Hannaford and Shaws.
The recalled containers carry lot code 26184 and a best-by date of 08/27/27, and the UPC is 8 60864 00030 7. The FDA published a notice on August 20 and classified the action as Class II on August 19.
Gifford’s Dairy in Skowhegan
Gifford’s Dairy is based in Skowhegan, Maine, and said it distributes over two million gallons of ice cream annually. That scale makes the August 14 recall small by volume for the company, but specific for shoppers who may have bought the exact lot from a store shelf in the three affected states.
For those buyers, the practical check is straightforward: compare the lot code and best-by date on the carton, then match the UPC if needed. The recall covers only the one-quart containers named in the FDA notice, not every HomeMaine product.
FDA Class II notice
The FDA Class II label means the agency placed the recall in the category used when a product may cause temporary or medically reversible health consequences. The notice came six days after Gifford’s initiated the recall, giving customers a clear paper trail from the company action to the federal posting.
Gifford’s said the ice cream was distributed through Hannaford, Shaws and other grocery stores across Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont, so customers who bought from those retail channels should check containers from that batch before serving them. A previous recall involving Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream recalls Outshine Fruit Bars over Ice Cream glass risk shows how product-specific checks can matter even when the package looks ordinary on the shelf.
Possible rubber piece contamination
Gifford’s tied the recall to possible rubber piece contamination, and the company said the problem may have originated from production equipment that broke down during processing. That leaves the equipment failure as the likely path, but not a named single source for the contamination.
For a customer, the next step is not to guess how much of the batch was affected. It is to identify the lot, the date and the UPC, then stop using any carton that matches all three markers. The recall gives buyers a precise way to separate the affected ice cream from the rest of the freezer stock.
Did any consumer receive or eat the recalled ice cream before Gifford’s acted? The notice does not answer that, so the only safe move is to treat any matching carton as part of the August 14 recall and set it aside.
