Can Ice Cream Cause Diarrhea and Food Poisoning?
Diet & NutritionFood Safety

Can Ice Cream Cause Diarrhea and Food Poisoning?

Can Ice Cream Cause Diarrhea and Food Poisoning?
iStock
By
Updated on November 6, 2025
Medically Reviewed by

Produce like lettuce and melon is prone to foodborne illnesses if you don’t wash them properly. But harmful bacteria can affect more than fruits and vegetables — they can also thrive on frozen dairy desserts. Here’s how ice cream can cause diarrhea and other gut issues.

How Does Melted Ice Cream Cause Diarrhea?

Letting a tub of ice cream sit outside the freezer for too long can affect your health. “Ice cream melts fairly rapidly at room temperature, and the milky, sugary, liquid concoction is the perfect petri dish for bacteria like listeria,” Amreen Bashir, PhD, a lecturer in Biomedical Science at Aston University in Birmingham, England, writes in The Conversation.

Even if ice cream has melted and been refrozen, it’s at risk of growing listeria, which can cause illness and symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

 Plus, the freezer temperatures won’t kill already-existing bacteria.

Ice cream that has melted and been refrozen during the manufacturing or shipping process, or ice cream that’s been made at home, can also grow harmful bacteria.

Why Is Ice Cream Prone to Bacteria?

There are a few key ingredients that make ice cream prone to bacterial growth, including the following:

Eggs

Commercially manufactured ice cream that contains egg products can be susceptible to salmonella infection, a common harmful bacterium.

 If a product is made without pasteurized eggs or the final product isn’t pasteurized — aka it hasn’t undergone heat-treatment to destroy pathogenic microorganisms — it can lead to foodborne illness.

Milk and Cream

Milk is the base for most dairy-based ice creams, but it has a high propensity for spoiling. It can also be a conduit for bacterial contamination, like salmonella, E. coli, and listeria, especially if it’s unpasteurized or raw.

Symptoms of Food Poisoning From Ice Cream

If you ingest harmful bacteria in melted or spoiled ice cream, you can develop food poisoning. Symptoms can include fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps, which, depending on the type of bacteria, can start within hours or days after eating the contaminated food.

Most people recover from food poisoning without treatment, but if you have worsening symptoms or are immunocompromised, seek medical attention.

Preventing Food Poisoning From Ice Cream

Bashir says there are a few things you can do to prevent the risk of food poisoning and diarrhea from ice cream, including:

  • Avoid double-dipping into a tub of ice cream.
  • Scoop your ice cream with clean utensils.
  • If your ice cream melts or thaws completely, throw it away.
  • Keep ice cream frozen at all times.
  • Avoid ice cream with unpasteurized ingredients (like eggs or milk).
  • If making ice cream at home, make sure to use pasteurized products.

Another tip: Put the ice cream container right back in the freezer after you fill up your bowl, to reduce the chances of it melting. And never double-dip — if it’s no longer frozen, toss it, says Bashir.

How to Tell if Ice Cream Has Been Refrozen

If you’re shopping for a pint of ice cream at the grocery store, there are some signs that the container has melted and then been refrozen. For example, the container may look firmer or sticky from refrozen condensation. Plus, the ice cream itself might have large, crunchy crystals on top, aka freezer burn.

Ice cream that’s been in the freezer for a long time might have freezer burn, but overall, this type is safe to eat. The flavor, however, may not be the same.

The Takeaway

  • Dairy products can be prone to developing harmful bacteria like listeria, E. coli, and salmonella if unpasteurized or left out for too long.
  • Ice cream can cause diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever if spoiled or melted. The eggs and milk in these dairy products can become spoiled, and refreezing them cannot kill bacteria.
  • Food poisoning symptoms can start within hours or days of eating contaminated food.
  • You can tell that ice cream has melted and been refrozen if it’s crystallized or the container is sticky.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Bashir A. The lesser-known causes of food poisoning that may ruin your dessert. The Conversation. July 9, 2018.
  2. Symptoms of Listeria Infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 3, 2025.
  3. Rapid Response Center Freezing. K-State Research and Extension.
  4. Home Made Ice Cream. Minnesota Department of Health. September 2, 2025.
  5. Alvarez V. Food Preservation: Pasteurization of Raw Milk for Home Consumption. Ohio State University Extension. May 30, 2024.
  6. The Dangers of Raw Milk: Unpasteurized Milk Can Pose a Serious Health Risk. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. May 30, 2024.
  7. Symptoms of Food Poisoning. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. January 31, 2025.
  8. Food Poisoning. Cleveland Clinic. May 28, 2025.
  9. Protect Your Pint! 6 Easy Ways to Prevent Freezer Burn. Ben & Jerry’s. March 16, 2020.
  10. What is freezer burn? U.S. Department of Agriculture. February 3, 2025.
Meet Our Experts
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network

Yuying Luo, MD

Medical Reviewer

Yuying Luo, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai West and Morningside in New York City. She aims to deliver evidence-based, patient-centered, and holistic care for her patients.

Her clinical and research focus includes patients with disorders of gut-brain interaction such as irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia; patients with lower gastrointestinal motility (constipation) disorders and defecatory and anorectal disorders (such as dyssynergic defecation); and women’s gastrointestinal health.

She graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology and received her MD from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she was also chief resident. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital and was also chief fellow.

See full bio

Tehrene Firman

Author

Tehrene Firman is a freelance writer and editor. Formerly of Teen Vogue and Dr. Oz The Good Life, she now writes for Well+Good, Prevention, and other outlets.

See full bio
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network