Listeria problems with Blue Bell ice cream were thought to be associated with a single machine at the company’s manufacturing facility in Brenham, Texas. Tests on products made there contained the same unusual strains of the bacteria that killed three people and sickened two others at Via Christi hospital in Wichita, all of whom had eaten Blue Bell ice cream during their hospitalizations for unrelated illnesses.
But earlier this week, tests on a different product made at different location, Blue Bell’s plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, were also positive for Listeria. The product, a 3-ounce ice cream cup, was made specifically for Blue Bell’s institutional clients such as hospitals, nursing homes and schools and shipped to 23 states.
No illnesses have been linked to Blue Bell products made in Oklahoma at this time, but the product has been recalled and the scope of the outbreak investigation has widened.
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture inspects the Broken Arrow plant eight times a year but dose not test for pathogens, a spokesperson told Food Poisoning Bulletin today. The focus of the inspections is overall sanitation and the pasteurization. No major problems have been discovered in these inspections, the most recent of which took place February 12, 2015 and March 17, 2015.
The onset of illnesses in the outbreak range from January 2014 to January 2015. State and federal health officials are looking at cases of listeriosis reported during that time frame to see if any of them may be a match to the outbreak strain.
In Oklahoma, no illnesses have been linked to the Blue Bell Listeria outbreak, Tony Sellars, Director of Communications for the Oklahoma Department of Health told Food Poisoning Bulletin today. Oklahoma had two cases of listeriosis in 2014 and one so far in 2015.
