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Listeria and candied and caramel-coated apples

Quick facts

  • Cottage food producers can sell candied or caramel-coated apples without inserted sticks.
  • You cannot sell them with sticks inserted.
  • Recent outbreaks of Listeria (a potentially deadly disease) have been associated with eating caramel apples with sticks.

Cottage Food producers may be interested in making and selling candied or caramel-coated apples. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has provided guidance that candied or caramel-coated apples without inserted sticks are allowable under the Cottage Foods Exemption law. The law permits individuals to make and sell non-potentially hazardous foods.

Based on research following the multistate foodborne illness outbreaks related to caramel apples, caramel apples with inserted sticks are a potentially hazardous food. As defined in the Minnesota Food Code, a potentially hazardous food is "capable of supporting the rapid and progressive growth of infectious and toxigenic microorganisms."

This means candied or caramel-coated apples with sticks inserted require refrigeration to minimize the growth of harmful bacteria that may cause illness when eaten. Cottage food processors cannot sell foods that require refrigeration for food safety.

Listeria and foodborne illness

In 2014 and 2017 there were multistate foodborne illness outbreaks caused by Listeria monocytogenes linked to caramel apples. Following these outbreaks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended food processors make changes to their food handling practices and production environments to reduce the risk of contamination from Listeria monocytogenes. New research identified prevention strategies to reduce or eliminate the pathogen.

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen that has been linked to foodborne illness outbreaks from unpasteurized milk and foods made with unpasteurized milk such as soft cheeses and ice cream, raw and processed fruits and vegetables, ready-to-eat deli meats, hot dogs, smoked fish and other seafood, and undercooked poultry and sausages.

Listeria monocytogenes is present in soil in the environment. The pathogen can grow at cold temperatures (below 41°F) and as high as 98°F (warmer than room temperature) and can be spread by cross-contamination from an infected person or food. It is killed by cooking foods to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F. 

Symptoms of listeriosis (the illness caused by the pathogen) include fever, muscle aches, nausea or diarrhea. These symptoms can begin 9 to 48 hours after eating the contaminated food, but the bacteria may remain in a person’s intestines for 2 to 6 weeks.

Listeriosis can lead to death, and is especially severe in pregnant women and the fetus, and the elderly.

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Reviewed in 2023

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