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Blue Bell recalls all its ice cream products over Listeria concerns

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Blue Bell recalls ice cream over Listeria concerns - CNN.com


(CNN)—After weeks of gradual recalls, Blue Bell Creameries is now pulling all of its products off the shelves.

The company is recalling its entire line of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and other frozen snacks because they could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the company said Monday.

"Today's decision was the result of findings from an enhanced sampling program initiated by Blue Bell which revealed that Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream half gallons produced on March 17, 2015, and March 27, 2015, contained the bacteria," the company said in a statement.

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It seems quite odd that the same listeria has effected multiple manufacturing locations - it is either a bad common supplier or some common and dangerous production techniques.

I think Blue Bell would agree, that's why they're pulling EVERYTHING.
 
It seems quite odd that the same listeria has effected multiple manufacturing locations - it is either a bad common supplier or some common and dangerous production techniques.

I had a similar thought, what did they do wrong to effect every single production plant that they have? Very concerning.
 
That's to bad. They had just completely restocked after our local grocer had themselves removed all BB product from their coolers.

I sort of suspect corporate sabotage. Perhaps from those Commies over at Ben and Jerry's.
 
Maybe raw cookie dough ice cream isn't such a good idea after all.
 
Ive always liked their country cookie.

P08O4ml.jpg
 
Blue Bell has three manufacturing facilities (Texas/Oklahoma/Alabama). It either has to be a common supplier or a common violation of what are called "Critical Control Points" (CCPs). Sanitation is a CCP. Temperature could also be a CCP and a system-wide violation could occur if temperatures at all facilities are controlled from one location via computer program. Blue Bell would know if such a CCP violation occurred and when. It is then a corporate decision on how to proceed.
 
Ive always liked their country cookie.

P08O4ml.jpg

Maybe several minutes in the microwave can kill that listeria and allow you your fix! :mrgreen:
 
Maybe several minutes in the microwave can kill that listeria and allow you your fix! :mrgreen:

I want a country cookie, not a country diarrhea! :smileyfart
 
I had a similar thought, what did they do wrong to effect every single production plant that they have? Very concerning.

It is also odd that there are some non-ice cream products like sherbert included in their portfolio that are included.

It smells of some serious common manufacturing error that is common amongst very different products.

It could reflect different products using common machinery.
 
That's to bad. They had just completely restocked after our local grocer had themselves removed all BB product from their coolers.

I sort of suspect corporate sabotage. Perhaps from those Commies over at Ben and Jerry's.

But Ben and Jerrys kicks everyone else's ass to the moon. :3
 
It's better to start from a clean slate - pull everything, dump it, straighten out the problems, new production run with full testing. Certainly a setback but sometimes things like this make companies better.
 

Refrigerated foods in the home should be kept below 4 °C (39.2 °F) to discourage bacterial growth.

I have to wonder about possible repeated thawing and refreezing after production. Sometimes it's so hard in the winter months that we let it thaw on the counter. In the warmer months, just getting it home without melting is a chore.Not to mention it's delivery to the stores and their refrigeration facilities.
 
For weakened people.

Apparently if you're young and healthy then the disease is non invasive and you end up with a fever and a bad case of diarrhea.

And what? Anyone can walk into any store and buy this stuff, so there's no control over who eats it and who doesn't. So they have to remove it all.
 
Listeria is a very serious concern - here in Toronto and Canada, we had a meat processing plant that was closed for several months and the company was seriously damaged by a listeria outbreak in its products with 22 people dying out of 57 who were affected.

Not a matter to be joking about, or taking lightly, in my view.

2008 Canada listeriosis outbreak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
The CDC has linked Blue Bell to 10 cases of Listeria between 2010 and 2015 so the problem was systemic. Blue Bell says it is getting closer to pinpointing the problem which seems to be internal and the company is beefing up its Critical Control Points (CCPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Employees will be retrained, the sanitary operation will be expanded and post-sanitation swab analysis (to detect lingering bacteria) will be increased by 800%. It will also set up programs (internal and external) to test every production batch for microbial contaminants before any product leaves a plant.

Quite frankly, these are all steps which should have been implemented years ago. Someone's head should roll in Quality Control. There must be chain of custody (COC) refrigeration documentation from vendor to plant to store receiving. There should comprehensive external facility/document audits every six months. If Blue Bell plants are not federal inspected facilities, the company should seriously consider hiring former Federal Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors for each plant/shift. All of these pro-active steps are costly, but the combined costs of massive product recalls and the PR damage to corporate reputation are incalculable and oftentimes lead to corporate demise.
 
Simpleχity;1064552512 said:
The CDC has linked Blue Bell to 10 cases of Listeria between 2010 and 2015 so the problem was systemic. Blue Bell says it is getting closer to pinpointing the problem which seems to be internal and the company is beefing up its Critical Control Points (CCPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Employees will be retrained, the sanitary operation will be expanded and post-sanitation swab analysis (to detect lingering bacteria) will be increased by 800%. It will also set up programs (internal and external) to test every production batch for microbial contaminants before any product leaves a plant.

Quite frankly, these are all steps which should have been implemented years ago. Someone's head should roll in Quality Control. There must be chain of custody (COC) refrigeration documentation from vendor to plant to store receiving. There should comprehensive external facility/document audits every six months. If Blue Bell plants are not federal inspected facilities, the company should seriously consider hiring former Federal Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors for each plant/shift. All of these pro-active steps are costly, but the combined costs of massive product recalls and the PR damage to corporate reputation are incalculable and oftentimes lead to corporate demise.

Forget it jake, it's texas.....
 
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