After a deadly Listeria outbreak at Via Christi hospital in Wichita was linked to Blue Bell ice cream made in Texas, new tests have found the pathogen in ice cream made at the company’s plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
The potentially contaminated products distributed to hospitals and other other institutions in 23 states include three flavors of 3 ounce ice cream cups: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. The recalled chocolate cups have the SKU number 453, Strawberry SKU 452 and Vanilla SKU451. They were distributed in the following states: 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 and Wyoming.
These recalled products are in addition to the 10 that have previously recalled. They are: Chocolate Chip Country Cookie SKU # 196, Great Divide Bar SKU #108, Sour Pop Green Apple Bar SKU #221, Cotton Candy Bar SKU #216, Scoops SKU #117, Vanilla Stick Slices SKU #964, Almond Bars SKU #156, 6 pack Cotton Candy Bars SKU #245, 6 pack Sour Pop Green Apple Bars SKU #249, and 12 pack No Sugar Added Mooo Bars* SKU #343.
The Listeria in the ice cream cup was found in product that Via Christi removed from distribution and held in quarantine after being alerted to the problem March 9, the hospital said in a statement on its website.
The hospital has fully cooperated with the outbreak investigation and “none of the environmental samples from the kitchen tested positive for Listeria,” according to a news release from the Kansas Department of Environmental Health. “However, one sample taken from an unopened Blue Bell 3-ounce single serving ice cream cup tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes bacteria at the Kansas Department of Agriculture Laboratory. That product was made at the Blue Bell Creameries facility in Broken Arrow, Okla., which was not part of the initial listeriosis investigation.”
Five patients hospitalized at Via Christi between December 2013 and January 2015 for unrelated illnesses became ill with listeriosis after being served Blue Bell ice cream. Three people died.
The symptoms of a listeriosis infection include fever, stiff neck, headache, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. The elderly, children, and pregnant women are most likely to suffer serious complications from this infection.
