BRENHAM, Texas -- Blue Bell Creameries, the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry have entered into voluntary agreements outlining a series of steps and actions Blue Bell will take as part of its efforts to bring Blue Bell Ice Cream products back to market, the company said.
On April 20, Brenham, Texas-based Blue Bell voluntarily recalled all of its products currently on the market, made at all of its facilities, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. This recall included ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks made at all Blue Bell facilities. It distributed the products at foodservice accounts, convenience stores and supermarkets in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming and international locations.
The voluntary agreements, signed May 14, detail actions Blue Bell will take to help give the public confidence that when Blue Bell products return to market, they are safe. The actions include rigorous facility cleaning and sanitizing, revised testing protocols, revised production policies and procedures designed to prevent future contamination and upgraded employee training initiatives.
Once the company is ready to resume production, the voluntary agreements also call for a trial production period before ice cream is distributed to consumers.
“We are committed to meeting the high standards and expectations of our customers and our regulatory agencies,” said Blue Bell CEO and president Paul Kruse. “State and federal regulatory agencies play an important role in food safety, and we hope that it will be reassuring to our customers that we are working cooperatively with the states of Texas and Oklahoma in taking the necessary steps to bring Blue Bell Ice Cream back to the market.”
Blue Bell will continue to work with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and has entered into discussions with the State of Alabama Department of Public Health regarding a similar voluntary agreement. Discussions on these voluntary agreements began with the State of Texas and then extended to Oklahoma.
The agreements include provisions specific to addressing Listeria, including:
- Conducting root cause analyses to identify its potential or actual sources.
- Retaining an independent microbiology expert to establish and review controls to prevent the future introduction of Listeria.
- Notifying the Texas and Oklahoma state agencies promptly of any presumptive positive test result for Listeria monocytogenes found in ingredients or finished product samples and providing the state agencies full access to all testing.
- Ensuring that the company’s Pathogen Monitoring Program (PMP) for Listeria in the plant environment outlines how the company will respond to presumptive positive tests for Listeria species.
- Instituting a “test and hold” program to assure that products are safe before they are shipped or sold.
“These detailed agreements will help guide us back to producing the safe, high-quality products that Blue Bell is known for,” Kruse said. “We appreciate the tremendous public support we have received, and we look forward to working with our regulatory agencies and returning to making ice cream as soon as possible.”
“The extensive and detailed process of updating, cleaning and sanitizing our four production facilities, as well as training employees and implementing new programs and procedures, will take longer than we initially anticipated,” Kruse said last week. “Each facility will have its own timetable and production may resume in some locations before others. Blue Bell is committed to a thorough process that will ensure the highest quality and safety of our products for our customers going forward. We know we have to get this right, and we intend to do so. That is our top priority.”
“Unfortunately, we do not yet have a firm timeline for when Blue Bell Ice Cream will be back in stores, but we believe at this time that it will be several months at a minimum,” he continued. “We are evaluating all of our operations in light of this extended timeline, we are working closely with the appropriate federal and state regulatory agencies and our microbiology experts, and we are mapping out the many details of returning to production and distribution as soon as we can do so with confidence. We thank all our customers for their support and patience as we work to create the cleanest, safest environment possible to produce the high-quality, great-tasting ice cream people expect from Blue Bell.”
Click here to view the Texas agreement. And click here to view the latest FDA press release on Blue Bell.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.