The ice cream company Blue Bell has voluntarily recalled all its products that were made with a cookie dough ingredient from a third party supplier Aspen Hills Inc. According to the company's press release, the decision comes as a result of the dough potentially containing Listeria monocytogenes.
The bacteria can cause serious infections that could be fatal, especially when it comes to children, frail or old people, as well as those with a weak immune system. The series of potential dangers continues with pregnant women, to whom the bacteria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, while healthy individuals can suffer from fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea or diarrhea.
Although there has been no case registered until now, the company expanded the recall after its supplier made public additional information on the effects of the dangerous cookie dough lots. The products sold by Blue Bell have passed all their testing procedures and programs, which analyze samples from all the batches testing negative for the bacteria before release.
The recall is a vote of confidence in the company's customers valuing caution over anything else. Consequently, it is conducted in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration.
The initiative encompasses the Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Blue Bell Cookie Two Step in half gallons and pints, as well as three gallons of flavors sold to food service accounts: Blue Bell Blue Monster, Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie and Blue Bell Krazy Kookie Dough. The date of production of these products is Feb. 2, 2016 through Sept. 7, 2016.
The states where the products were sold are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Listeria is a bacteria with a 20 percent fatality rate, with two major clinical manifestations: sepsis and meningitis. The second one can often be complicated by encephalitis, a sudden inflammation of the brain. Its symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness and fatigue. Additionally, the incubation period of listeria can vary from 3 to 70 days.
Aspen Hills Inc. produces a "frozen gourmet cookie dough" in numerous varieties, whose current daily capacity of production is 180,000 pounds. Its location in the center of the U.S. allows rapid distribution. The company has been active on the market for almost 20 years, since its first introduction to the fundraising industry.
"Although our products in the marketplace have passed our test-and-hold program, which requires that finished product samples test negative for Listeria monocytogenes, Blue Bell is initiating this recall out of an abundance of caution," explained the company in a statement announcing its first recall.
