UPDATE: Blue Bell undergoing deep cleaning and extensive retraining

UPDATE: April 28, 2015

BRENHAM, Texas - The Blue Bell Ice Cream manufacturing plants, are getting ‘scrubbed up’ for their second coming. An intensive cleaning by hired specialists, was initiated Monday, April 27, at the four Blue Bell facilities. Blue Bell has hired specialists to get rid of any traces of listeria and didn't dismiss the idea of potentially using chemicals to sanitize surfaces.

Equipment not heated to a pasteurizing temperature, will require heating and holding it at a temperature long enough to eradicate listeria. The idea of potentially using chemicals to sanitize surfaces has not been dismissed. Blue Bell has stated that they’ll do whatever it takes, and are committed for the long haul.

A statement Blue Bell released on Monday read in part: "About 750 Blue Bell plant operations employees today attended a training session led by an outside expert microbiologist. He briefed employees about microbiology in general, and specifically about controlling the plant environment to prevent bacteria, including listeria. This was the first step in Blue Bell’s enhanced training program; additional training sessions for supervisors will be conducted throughout the week.

The company is continuing to test individual pieces of equipment, disassembling them and taking swabs to obtain samples throughout the production multi-phase process. Other surfaces, including the floor, will also be tested. Depending on the findings from ongoing tests, an enhanced cleaning and sanitation program will be implemented in the weeks ahead.

Additionally, the company will be conducting extensive maintenance, which will include major floor repairs and possibly ventilation system work, in the weeks and months ahead.

At the minimum, the cleaning could take several weeks. To read how Texans are handling their withdrawal symptoms read The Hysteria about Listeria in Texas.



UPDATE: April 21, 2015

Blue Bell Creameries has announced that it will not lay off any employees as it works through a massive recall of its ice cream products in 23 states, The family who owns the company has not laid off any employees in Blue Bell's 100-year history, and does not intend to start now.

Blue Bell, the fourth largest ice cream maker in the country, employs a total of 4,000 employees, The company says it expects to begin shipping ice cream to stores again in "the next couple of weeks."



ORIGINAL STORY:

BRENHAM, Texas – Blue Bell Ice Cream of Brenham, Texas, is voluntarily recalling all of its products currently on the market made at all of its facilities including ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

“We’re committed to doing the 100 percent right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe,” said Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president. “We are heartbroken about this situation and apologize to all of our loyal Blue Bell fans and customers. Our entire history has been about making the very best and highest quality ice cream and we intend to fix this problem. We want enjoying our ice cream to be a source of joy and pleasure, never a cause for concern, so we are committed to getting this right.”

The products being recalled are distributed to retail outlets, including food service accounts, convenience stores and supermarkets in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming and international locations.

Today’s decision was the result of findings from an enhanced sampling program initiated by Blue Bell which revealed that Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream half gallons produced on March 17, 2015, and March 27, 2015, contained the bacteria. This means Blue Bell has now had several positive tests for Listeria in different places and plants and as previously reported five patients were treated in Kansas and three in Texas after testing positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

“At every step, we have made decisions in the best interest of our customers based on the evidence we had available at the time,” Kruse said. “At this point, we cannot say with certainty how Listeria was introduced to our facilities and so we have taken this unprecedented step. We continue to work with our team of experts to eliminate this problem.”

Blue Bell is implementing a procedure called “test and hold” for all products made at all of its manufacturing facilities. This means that all products will be tested first and held for release to the market only after the tests show they are safe. The Broken Arrow facility will remain closed as Blue Bell continues to investigate.

In addition to the “test and hold” system, Blue Bell is implementing additional safety procedures and testing including:


Expanding our already robust system of daily cleaning and sanitizing of equipment

Expanding our system of swabbing and testing our plant environment by 800 percent to include more surfaces

Sending samples daily to a leading microbiology laboratory for testing

Providing additional employee training

Blue Bell expects to resume distribution soon on a limited basis once it is confident in the safety of its product.

Consumers who have purchased these items are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. For more information consumers with questions may call 1-866-608-3940 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. CST or go to bluebell.com.