Blue Bell expands recall of ice cream with cookie dough
SAN ANTONIO — Blue Bell Creameries expanded its voluntary recall of ice cream with cookie dough over possible listeria concerns, the company said Monday on its website.
Last month, Blue Bell said they were recalling two types of ice cream over concerns that a cookie dough ingredient supplied by third-party supplier Aspen Hills Inc. could contain listeria. On Monday, the Brenham, Texas-based ice cream maker expanded the recall to all products that contain cookie dough.
No illnesses have been reported, according to the company. The company says listeria "can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail, or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems."
The recall includes Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Blue Bell Cookie Two Step sold to retail outlets in half gallons and pints, as well as three gallon flavors of Blue Bell Blue Monster, Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie and Blue Bell Krazy Kookie Dough sold to food service clients. The products were produced from Feb. 2, 2016, through Sept. 7, 2016, and distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
On Sunday, dough maker Aspen Hills said it was recalling its cookie dough products.
The cookie dough was voluntarily recalled because the company found lapses in its food safety system — such as inadequate documentation and failure to wear proper uniforms — that could have spurred the contamination, said Jon Austin, an Aspen Hills spokesman.
"Any one of these issues is a matter we would take seriously, but collectively they represent to us an unacceptable lapse in the standards our customers — and we — expect," said Austin.
Last year, Blue Bell was off the shelf for five months when it issued a national recall after its ice cream was linked to 10 listeria illnesses in four states, and three deaths in Kansas.
It returned to shelves Aug. 31, 2015, in stores in Texas and Alabama, after test production at its facility in Sylacauga, Ala., came back negative for contamination.
Contributing: KHOU-TV, Houston; The Associated Press. Follow KENS-TV on Twitter: @KENS5