The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now recommending that consumers refrain from eating any Blue Bell Ice Cream made at Blue Bell Creameries’ Broken Arrow plant in Oklahoma. Ice cream made at the Broken Arrow plant can be readily identified by looking for the O, P, Q, R, S, and T following the date printed on the bottom of the ice cream packaging. This follows an acknowledgement that ice cream produced at that facility was likely responsible for an outbreak of Listeria at a Kansas hospital which infected at least five patients – three of whom have passed away. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and reported by the CDC, the five victims were all infected with one of four rare strains of Listeria monocytogenes that were subsequently linked to the Blue Bell Creameries plant in Brenham, Texas. The link was made by the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control who conducted the testing on the single serving Chocolate Chip Country Cookie Sandwich and the Great Divide Bar ice cream products at a South Carolina distribution center on February 12, 2015. The testing revealed the presence of the outbreak strains of Listeria in ice cream manufactured by Blue Bell Creameries’ at its Brenham plant, a fact later confirmed by the Texas Department of State Health Services. These findings led to an immediate recall of the implicated ice cream.
But now the focus of the FDA’s investigation has expanded to include the Blue Bell Creameries plant in Broken Arrow, Okla. The first sign that problems existed at this plant followed positive Listeria test results in ice cream remaining at the hospital in Kansas that had been produced in Broken Arrow. The samples were collected and tested by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA). During the environmental testing of the Blue Bell ice cream still on hand at the hospital, a sample taken from a single serving ice cream cup, manufactured at the Broken Arrow plant, was positive for Listeria monocytogenes. The FDA immediately notified Blue Bell of its findings (this was on March 22, 2015) and the very next day Bell Creameries issued a expanded recall to include institutional ice cream cups in chocolate (SKU #453), strawberry (SKU #452) and vanilla (SKU #451). But now, the CDC is issuing a rare call for consumers to avoid eating ANY ice cream produced at the Broken Arrow plant.
“This was, to some extent, anticipated,” says Listeria Lawyer Ron Simon, adding “as we discussed after the initial recall, as the investigation continues, recalls often expand.” Simon explained that these sorts of Listeria recalls usually target only the product investigators know is tainted, but an investigation continues and conditions, it often becomes clear that many other products are also at danger of containing Listeria. In this situation, findings at the Broken Arrow must have been worse that initially thought. Now the CDC is warning consumers to avoid any product made at that facility.
