Blue Bell Ice Cream Recall -- 3 dead due to Listeria Bacteria

First recall in 108 year history!

Five people, in all, developed listeriosis in Kansas after eating products from one production line at the Blue Bell creamery in Brenham, Texas, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA says listeria bacteria were found in samples of 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.

Blue Bell says its regular Moo Bars were untainted, as were its half gallons, quarts, pints, cups, three-gallon ice cream and take-home frozen snack novelties.

There appeared to be some uncertainty as to where the patients acquired the listeria bacterial infection.

According to a Friday statement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all five of the people sickened were receiving treatment for unrelated health issues at the same Kansas hospital before developing listeriosis, 'a finding that strongly suggests their infections (with listeria bacteria) were acquired in the hospital,' the CDC said.

All four had consumed milkshakes made with a single-serving Blue Bell ice cream product called 'Scoops' while they were in the hospital, the CDC said.

'Scoops,' as well as the other suspect Blue Bell items, are mostly food service items and not produced for retail, said Paul Cruse, CEO of the Brenham creamery.

Be very cautious as to what you eat. It getting harder and harder truthfully. Listeria almost killed me and my daughter when I was pregnant with her. It almost resulted in her being stillborn and in me dying. My daughter was dead when they pulled her from me, and died 3 more times that day. Even though she tested negative for it, The placenta tested positive, so it must have just been passing to her. The hospital treated her and myself with IV gentamycin and ampicillin. On top of that, because of the gentamycin, we were warned my daughter may lose her hearing. (It causes hearing damage in infants.) Because I am the ONLY case in the entire state of NY for 1995, they have no way of knowing where I got, how I got it, is it natural in my body. One doctor posited that it's natural in my body because I had 2 miscarriages before my daughter, and 3 after. The way he described he was, most bodies see a pregnancy as a parasite, but allow the parasite to thrive until it's ready to leave the body, my body sees the pregnancy as a flu and the white blood cells attack it until it's dead. Why? Know one knows, but it's rare, and it happens to a few women. I just happen to be one of those "lucky" few. Just watch out for now of the recall list, be careful of listeria, especially those with low immune systems and pregnant women. Every time I see Listeria hit the news, I try to warn people because I'd hate for anyone to go through what we went through.

I am sorry for your loss. The fact is the contamination could have been the fault of the server and not the product based on the article.

Am I to assume milkshakes are now hospital food there for patients? Eating sugar while sick is a great way to stay sick. I think the hospital has found a great way to stay in business.

I used to like Blue Bell a LOT 20-30 years ago when I lived in Texas, but was largely disappointed with their products when they made the shift to HFCS instead of sugar.

Also, when you manufacture products in a large machine factory and don't properly clean every nook and cranny - bacteria, mold, and whatever else will thrive.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I am sorry for your loss. The fact is the contamination could have been the fault of the server and not the product based on the article.

Most certainly. I mean look at all the products recalled due to listeria. Truthfully it gets on a LOT of things, including vegetables. And I ate a LOT of stuff that 20 years ago was ok for you, that now they tell pregnant women to stay away from, including hot dogs, coleslaw, cream cheese, you name it. But we didn't know then. Plus as I said, for me, it might be a naturally occurring bacteria my body cannot fight. But at least, now I know, and I just alert others as a just in case, be aware kind of thing. Blue Bell has a very good history, so I actually like them. I just thought I'd let people know there was a recall alert going on.

originally posted by: Philippines
Am I to assume milkshakes are now hospital food there for patients? Eating sugar while sick is a great way to stay sick.

That's the first thing that came to my mind as well. I understand that icecream is 'happy food' but it's full of sugar and sugar is bad for sick people. Always avoid sugar while sick. heck .. avoid sugar anyways. It's inflammatory and evil.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Exactly. Sugar is the Devil's plaything (or at least his snack), and add in the glop from cow innards and you've got yourself a cocktail for calamity. Now, mix in two parts listeria and......run! (bottom line, milk, cheese, and ice cream are made from things that only a baby calf should be eating, and only then for a short time. Sugar? Forgetaboutit).

I am so sorry you have gone through so much. There is a shocking amount of recalls every year. We need to grow our own food. everyearwww.fsis.usda.gov...

a reply to: misskat1

I found this recall site too, and wow, 9 pages of recalls and alerts since January 15th of this year!! There is a tab for Animal foods, and there are a lot of pet food recalls and alerts too. Just WoW. There is also a radiation emitting product page, but it wont load, I guess it must know I have a tab open on a conspiracy site, lol.
I noticed a lot of the items were for undeclared items, like peanuts. So, if I had food allergies, I would think this is a pretty good tool to keep an eye on problem foods. www.fda.gov...-info

a reply to: Anyafaj

Milkshakes...

That implies post production contamination, to me. I had a pasteurization ticket back in the '70s and have seen no production contamination of dairy products, at least in the media.

The system of pasteurization and packaging have been long since developed and used successfully.

The analogy would be hamburger vs steak. Hamburgers require mixing of the meat and additives...human contact and the contact mixed into the middle of the paddy which doesn't always get cooked fully. The middle of a steak doesn't get exposed to human contact and therefore doesn't require 'well done' preparation.

A milkshake requires a person to make it, to scoop it, mix it with milk and flavoring/fruit. Then served...

originally posted by: misskat1
a reply to: misskat1

I found this recall site too, and wow, 9 pages of recalls and alerts since January 15th of this year!! There is a tab for Animal foods, and there are a lot of pet food recalls and alerts too. Just WoW. There is also a radiation emitting product page, but it wont load, I guess it must know I have a tab open on a conspiracy site, lol.
I noticed a lot of the items were for undeclared items, like peanuts. So, if I had food allergies, I would think this is a pretty good tool to keep an eye on problem foods. www.fda.gov...-info

Thanks for the site. I've saved it to my Links bar.