The media will blame this on Ted Cruz.
Blue Bell is the very best ice cream. They are going to keep making it but not sell any until everything tests out all right.
Yikes. Not a good thing to happen to the little creamery in Brenham.
Sad to hear that it’s now become a product wide/company wide recall. Strange.
OMG. The best ice cream in the world. What a horrible thing to happen to this little creamery in Texas!
I’m sure they have insurance to cover something like this.
There was nothing I hated more then recalls.
And half the time you were not even sure that all the stuff you were recalling and destroying even had the possibility of having anything wrong with it.
In recalls there is no such thing as over reacting.
Blue Bell is not telling the whole story. Someone has done this on purpose.
Simultaneous problems from three different factories in three different states isn’t passing the smell test. After years of no problems to have a complete breakdown? Either some cost cutter changed the process, or they are being sabotaged. Either a management problem or a union problem. But they need to figure out which and focus on people, not equipment.
"There's more than just ice cream in a carton of Blue Bell..."
Breaks my heart.
The problem is, once the problem is admitted to, the line of plaintiff attorneys will form on the left and not end for about six years. Ask BP how that feels.
I’m not sure they can survive this. But, I just had a bowl of peach vanilla and will remember it always if it turns out to be the last bowl I’ll ever eat.
I may have to move to East Tennessee so I can get some Mayfield ice cream. I put it right up there with Blue Bell.
Blue Bell makes excellent ice cream.
Good on them for acting very responsibly in this incident.
Question: Blue Bell and Blue Bunny are not associated with each other are they????
Last week, the prevailing thought was that it was confined to the plant in Broken Arrow OK. I had a meeting with a knowledgeable economic development person who had visited that plant that day. Let’s just say the clean-up was continuing with all hands involved and the light was not yet visible at the end of the tunnel. They were working to eliminate all possible sources of any lingering bacteria.
The shutdown of every facility is nearly unprecedented, maybe back to the Tylenol tampering, in my memory anyway. It appears the Blue Bell people are using what was learned by McNeil (Tylenol) on how to handle such problems.
Recalls happen all the time, almost weekly in the food industry. Anything that is not fully cooked after buying it is a potential risk because microbes are everywhere. What is most unsafe are raw fruits and vegetables.
For Immediate Release
http://cdn.bluebell.com/ceo-video-message April 20, 2015
Statement from Blue Bell CEO and President Paul Kruse
We’re committed to doing the 100 percent right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we are confident that they are all safe. At every step, we have made decisions in the best interest of our customers based on the evidence we had available at the time. We have brought in one of the world’s most respected food safety microbiologists to inspect our plants and systems to help us get to the bottom of this issue.
Through further internal testing, we learned today that Listeria monocytogenes was found in an additional half gallon of ice cream in our Brenham facility. While we initially believed this situation was isolated to one machine in one room, we now know that was wrong. We need to know more to be completely confident that our products are safe for our customers.
As Blue Bell moves forward, we are implementing a procedure called “test and hold” for all products made at all of our manufacturing facilities. This means that all products released will be tested first and held for release to the market only after the tests show they are safe.
In addition to the “test and hold” system, Blue Bell is implementing additional safety procedures and testing including:
- Expanding our already robust system of daily cleaning and sanitizing of equipment
- Expanding our system of swabbing and testing our plant environment by 800
percent to include more surfaces
- Sending samples daily to a leading microbiology laboratory for testing
- Providing additional employee training
At this point, we cannot say with certainty how Listeria was introduced to our facilities. We continue to work with our team of experts to eliminate this problem.
We urge consumers who have purchased Blue Bell products to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with any concerns or questions should call 1-866-608-3940 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. CST or go to www.bluebell.com for the most up-to-date information.
We are heartbroken about this situation and apologize to all of our loyal Blue Bell fans and customers. Our entire history has been about making the very best and highest quality ice cream, and we intend to fix this problem. We want enjoying our ice cream to be a source of joy and pleasure, never a cause for concern, so we are committed to getting this right.
We bought some Blue Bell pineapple sherbet and lime sherbet within the last two months. I wanted the pineapple. Husband got lime because he doesn’t like pineapple so he assumes our children agree with him. He started serving the sherbet and tasted the lime as he was scooping. He threw out the whole container. He said it tasted like poop or used a similar term. I trusted his judgement though I was a bit stunned that he would throw it all away. Within two weeks, they issued their first recalls, but sherbet was not on the list. We have had Blue Bell ice cream in our house this week and a few other times this last month. It is the only ice cream I like. :(
On the radio this morning they mentioned cookie dough was linked to it, perhaps from the raw egg. I think BB is a really smart company who will take the hit and then actually be able to use it to their advantage.
It’s going to hurt the bottom line, but them doing this very publicly and showing they will take ZERO chances when peoples health is involved can be used in a big PR way, making lemonade so to speak.
Their openness and thoroughness will instill a confidence that will bring back every single customer, and even add some when people think about it.
meanwhile, Ben and Jerry’s begins marketing beer