H-E-B stores pull Blue Bell
The Texas grocery chain H-E-B announced Saturday that it is pulling all Blue Bell Ice Cream from its store shelves as a precaution after a recall of some of the company’s products that were connected to three deaths in Kansas.
In another development, the Houston Astros said they won’t serve Blue Bell at their Opening Day game Monday. Astros President Reid Ryan said in a statement that it is a “precautionary measure.”
H-E-B, with more than 300 stores in Texas and northern Mexico, said the decision is a “precautionary measure due to food safety concerns.” The chain said it’s working with Brenham-based Blue Bell to refill the stocks as soon as possible.
Blue Bell spokesman Gene Grabowski said the company respects and understands the action.
“Like them, we care for the well-being of our consumers,” he said.
On Friday, Blue Bell suspended operations at its plant in Broken Arrow, Okla., which officials had previously connected to a foodborne illness linked to the three deaths.
“We are taking this step out of an abundance of caution to ensure that we are doing everything possible to provide our consumers with safe products and to preserve the trust we have built with them and their families for more than a century,” the company said in a statement.
Last month, Blue Bell and health officials said a 3-ounce cup of ice cream contaminated with listeriosis was traced to the plant. The ice cream product — cups of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla – is not sold in retail locations and is shipped in bulk to “institutional accounts” such as hospitals in 23 states that make up less than 5 percent of the company’s sales.
Ten products recalled earlier in March were from a production line at a plant in Brenham, the company’s headquarters.
The recall, the first in the company’s 108-year history, began when five patients at Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in Wichita, Kan., fell ill with listeriosis while hospitalized at some point from December 2013 to January 2015. Officials determined that at least four drank milkshakes that contained Blue Bell ice cream. Three of the patients later died.
Listeriosis is a life-threatening infection caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease primarily affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
To tell whether you bought products from Blue Bell’s Oklahoma facility, check the code on the bottom of the carton and see whether it ends in the letters S, P, O, Q, R or T.
Staff writer John Gravois contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 5, 2015 at 7:40 AM with the headline "H-E-B stores pull Blue Bell."