Listeria has been found in products made at two Blue Bell locations, Brenham Texas and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. But what about the company's third plant in Sylacauga, Alabama? As of March 31, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) had not received word that U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials planned to visit the Sylacauga plant to conduct testing, a spokesman told Food Poisoning Bulletin via email. The Alabama Department of Public Health inspects the plant, which makes about 15 million gallons of ice cream each year, quarterly. The last inspection was February 19, 2015. However, environmental swabs are not taken during those inspections, nor are products tested for specific pathogens. Instead, samples are tested for coliform and the standard plate … [Read more...]
Listeria Found in Ice Cream Made in Second Blue Bell Facility
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 … [Read more...]
Blue Bell Recalls More Ice Cream for Possible Listeria
Blue Bell Ice Cream is recalling 3 ounce institutional/food service ice cream cups because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. That brand's ice cream is linked to a deadly Listeria outbreak in Wichita, Kansas. Five people were sickened and three died after being served Blue Bell ice cream at the Via Christi hospital in Wichita. On March 22, 2015, the Kansas Department of Health & Environment reported one positive test for Listeria monocytogenes on a chocolate ice cream cup taken from a hospital in Wichita, Kansas. This cup was produced in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma plant on April 15, 2014. This is a different facility from the one in Brenham, Texas, that produced the ice cream linked to the Kansas outbreak. These products were sold in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, … [Read more...]