Canadian Dairy Ice Cream Pathogen Survey Results 2017-2020

1186 dairy ice cream samples were analyzed for Listeria monocytogenes and Aerobic Colony Count by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. A subset of 387 samples was also tested for Salmonella and total coliforms. The survey data covers the period from April 2017 to March 2020.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between Aerobic Colony Count results and product characteristics like brand or region.
• Train binary classification models to predict the presence of total coliforms using other sample metadata.
• Benchmark contamination rates against other food categories using the reported zero-detection results for Listeria and Salmonella.
• Study temporal trends in microbial quality across the three-year survey period.

Strengths

• Survey includes 1186 specifically targeted samples, providing a substantial sample size.
• Clear reporting of zero detections for critical pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella) across all tested samples.
• Data covers a defined three-year period (April 2017 to March 2020).

Limitations

• Column names and sample metadata (e.g., brand, location) are unknown, limiting granular analysis.
• The subset tested for Salmonella and coliforms (387 samples) is smaller than the full sample set.
• Data is static and may not reflect current production conditions after March 2020.

Provenance

Source

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Collection Method

Targeted survey involving laboratory analysis of collected retail samples.

Time Range

April 1,, 2017 to March 31, 2020

Freshness

Data covers a historical period; last platform update was 2026-04-08, but the underlying survey is not ongoing.

Geography

Canada (inferred from the conducting agency)