Blue Bell recalls products after three patients die of food poisoning

Texas-based Blue Bell icecream has recalled its products for the first time in 108 years after three deaths were reported from a foodborne illness linked to some of its icecream products.

The company has also shut down one of its production facilities as the government warned people to avoid consumption of its icecream bars and cookies.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement saying five people admitted at the same hospital in Wichita, Kansas were infected with one of four rare strains of Listeria monocytogenes.

FDA further said that several strains of Listeria monocytogenes were found in samples of Blue Bell Creameries’ single serving Chocolate Chip Country Cookie Sandwich and the Great Divide Bar icecream products.

These samples were collected by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control during a routine product sampling. The products were said to have been manufactured at the company’s Brenham facility.

Following this, Blue Bell Creameries reported that it had removed the affected icecream products from the market.

The Guardian reported that four out of the five patients at the hospital had consumed milkshakes, which contained a single serving of a Blue Bell icecream product called Scoops.

Brenham creamery chief executive Paul Kruse was quoted by the Guardian as saying that the products could only have been contaminated at the point of production.

The recalled products are: Blue Bell chocolate chip country cookies, Great Divide bars, sour pop green apple bars, cotton candy bars, Scoops, vanilla stick slices, almond bars and no-sugar-added Moo bars.