Last updated on June 6th, 2016 at 03:06 pm
To proactively communicate with customers about its efforts to keep its production facilities free of potential sources of contamination, Blue Bell sent out a press release Jan. 7 to outline what it is doing. Unfortunately, some of the company’s statements were misinterpreted by a large enough number of media outlets that Blue Bell was prompted to issue a second statement the next day.
The first two paragraphs of the Jan. 7 statement read: “As we complete our final phase of distribution, we wanted to update our loyal customers on what has been going on in our production facilities. We continue to strictly adhere to our enhanced operations, policies, employee training and cleaning procedures to help give regulatory agencies and the public assurance that all aspects of our facilities and operations are resulting in a safe product.
“We continually reinforce to our employees that eliminating all potential sources of contamination is our number one priority so that we can stay committed to producing safe and high quality products for customers to enjoy.”
After acknowledging that “because Listeria is commonly found in the natural environment, no manufacturer can ever assume it can be entirely eradicated,” Blue Bell went on to say that it is testing every batch of ice cream before it is sold to consumers and that no products produced have tested positive for Listeria.
But apparently this statement led some to believe Blue Bell had in fact found contamination in its facilities: “We have identified locations where suspected Listeria species may be present in our facility, and we continue to extensively clean and sanitize those areas and make additional enhancements to the facility and our procedures based on the environmental test results. To confirm that our robust environmental program is effective, and that our ‘seek and destroy’ goals are being achieved, we expect to periodically find microbiological indications in our facilities.”
But it has not found that, the company said: “In our facilities, we have identified suspected areas where bacteria may be present but in no case have we confirmed Listeria monocytogenes.”
Last April, the Brenham, Texas-based ice cream producer pulled all of its ice cream from store shelves because of potential Listeria contamination. On Jan. 18 this year, Blue Bell will enter phase five of reintroducing its products to the market. This phase involves the Southeast.
“Upon the completion of phase five, we will turn our attention to building inventory for the spring as well as adding additional products and flavors to our lineup,” said Ricky Dickson, VP of sales and marketing for Blue Bell. “Even though we do not have a specific date, we plan to expand our sales territory whenever we are properly positioned to do so.”
