BRENHAM, Texas (KXAN) — Blue Bell Ice Cream on Wednesday — more than a year after resuming operations following a Listeria outbreak linked to three deaths in Kansas — has issued a voluntary recall of select products over concerns they contain Listeria.
The company is recalling several products sent to a number of states across the South. While Texas is not included in the 10 states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia — hundreds of cases of the potentially tainted ice cream were sent to the company’s Brenham, Texas facility.
The products at the heart of the recall, coming from the company’s Sylacauga, Alabama plant, were made with a chocolate chip cookie dough ingredient provided by third party supplier Aspen Hills, Inc., the company said in a statement.
Blue Bell says the problem came to their attention after “intensified internal testing” and notified Aspen Hills.
Listeria monocytogenes 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 headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women, the company statement continued.
The company says no illnesses have been reported to date. Consumers should not eat recalled products. You can return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.
The recalled products can be identified by the code date found on the bottom of the carton, seen below:
Blue Bell Ice Cream Half Gallons: | Code Dates |
Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough | 082618226 |
Blue Bell Cookie Two Step | 080418222, 081818224 |
Blue Bell Ice Cream Pints: | Code Dates |
Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough | 081518242, 082418242 |