Blue Bell Returns

DanOK · Aug 26, 2015

Three people died and several others became ill after eating Blue Bell ice cream products contaminated with the listeria bacteria. A series of recalls and cleanups at the plants failed to eradicate the problem, and in April of this year, the company voluntarily pulled all of its ice cream from store shelves. The company's ice cream has been absent from stores for over four months after pulling all the products. It almost was the end of the 108 year old company as they laid off almost 4,000 employees.

They have slowly begun bring employees back on line and at the end of this month, containers of Blue Bell ice cream, a staple in Texas and other southern states (23), will finally return to store shelves. There will be a phased return to distribution and , of course, central Oklahoma will be one of the last areas to see the ice cream return stores shelves.

I have almost stopped buying ice cream since Blue Bell pulled its products and welcome their return. I am confident the company has acted responsibly and I don't have any concerns that would stop me purchasing Blue Bell ice cream again.

DoctorShavegood · Aug 26, 2015

That's good news in a world that's gone crazy. Our local HEB grocer left a big spot in their frozen ice cream area just for them. We went by it every time at the market to see if they were back.

My favorite:

oc_in_fw · Aug 26, 2015

In the mean time, I discovered Graeter's. I am unsure how, being a native Buckeye, I did not know about this stuff.

BSAGuy · Aug 26, 2015

Glad to see that BB is back.

dionesius3 · Aug 26, 2015

One of the main plants is in my state, our plant was not infected but Blue Bell shut it down too and they totally rebuilt the machinery so that the parts causing the issue were easier to keep perfectly clean. They then spent eight weeks making ice cream without cleaning the machinery at all in order to see if by neglect the problem could happen again. Only after proving beyond any doubt that the new redesigned plant machinery could and would work even with poor cleaning did they start re building the other plants around the country.

I know a fellow who works at the Alabama plant where this process was done, and he said the owners would not settle for less than 100% perfect product. And he heard them say many times to the machinery builders that 99% is not good enough. The builders of the machinery were upset that their designs were not good enough and did not want to redesign things that Blue Bell owners wanted rebuilt and fixed.

It it almost went into a lawsuit, but in the end the plant was retuned and refitted and strict new guideline and procedures were implemented that will insure there won't be a repeat of this issue.

Any company that would shut down their own plant that was not causing the problem and totally rebuild and test in that plant first is a company I plan on doing business with. The two plants that did produce the tainted product were totally refitted and all employees retrained under the new strict and exact methods developed at our plant.

My my friend also confirmed that the company produced millions of gallons of product during the refitting process but would not sell that perfectly good product. They sold it as waste, not for human consumption, because the owner did not want ANY product sold until he was 100% sure it was safe.

if only more businesses were run in this manner!

oc_in_fw · Aug 26, 2015

dionesius3 said:
One of the main plants is in my state, our plant was not infected but Blue Bell shut it down too and they totally rebuilt the machinery so that the parts causing the issue were easier to keep perfectly clean. They then spent eight weeks making ice cream without cleaning the machinery at all in order to see if by neglect the problem could happen again. Only after proving beyond any doubt that the new redesigned plant machinery could and would work even with poor cleaning did they start re building the other plants around the country.

I know a fellow who works at the Alabama plant where this process was done, and he said the owners would not settle for less than 100% perfect product. And he heard them say many times to the machinery builders that 99% is not good enough. The builders of the machinery were upset that their designs were not good enough and did not want to redesign things that Blue Bell owners wanted rebuilt and fixed.

It it almost went into a lawsuit, but in the end the plant was retuned and refitted and strict new guideline and procedures were implemented that will insure there won't be a repeat of this issue.

Any company that would shut down their own plant that was not causing the problem and totally rebuild and test in that plant first is a company I plan on doing business with. The two plants that did produce the tainted product were totally refitted and all employees retrained under the new strict and exact methods developed at our plant.

My my friend also confirmed that the company produced millions of gallons of product during the refitting process but would not sell that perfectly good product. They sold it as waste, not for human consumption, because the owner did not want ANY product sold until he was 100% sure it was safe.

if only more businesses were run in this manner!

Kudos to Blue Bell- that is a rarity in today's business atmosphere.

Musikmann · Aug 27, 2015

oc_in_fw said:
In the mean time, I discovered Graeter's. I am unsure how, being a native Buckeye, I did not know about this stuff.

My mother grew up in Cincinnati and often stopped in to eat Graeter's on her walk home from school. IMHO it's as good as anything out there but for me, tied for the Blue Ribbon is Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs.

dangerousdon · Aug 27, 2015

SOOOOOOOOO Excited! Our local grocery stores have also left places open for the return of Blue Bell. I have tried some other brands and non-brands and here in Louisiana there isn't really anything comparable. I remember when my wife threw out the remaining Blue bell Ice Cream we had, I told her I was willing to chance it. :001_smile

It is refreshing to hear that in this climate of cut throat companies doing business at any cost you have a company like Blue bell trying to do the right thing. I only hope the employees were not inconvenienced too much. Being without a job for four or five months can really hurt a family...even if they are able to collect unemployment.

Either way it's good to see Blue Bell back and as being one of the last places to roll out, I hope it returns soon.

shimsham · Aug 27, 2015

Blue Bell homemade vanilla really tastes like the stuff your mom used to make on the back porch.

pault · Aug 27, 2015

They seems to have issues, i have no,interest in trying them. I do get blue bunny , a caramel praline yogurt that is divine.
Wal mart in Fl still had blue bell on shelves even after the recall. Not sure why.

Jnatcat · Aug 27, 2015

pault said:
They seems to have issues, i have no,interest in trying them. I do get blue bunny , a caramel praline yogurt that is divine.
Wal mart in Fl still had blue bell on shelves even after the recall. Not sure why.

Thats Walmart, the cockroach of retailers.

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