FDA: Blue Bell Plant Tested Positive for Listeria in 2013
WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) — A Food and Drug Administration investigation into Blue Bell Creameries found the company’s Oklahoma plant had positive tests for listeria dating back to 2013.
The FDA’s probe of Blue Bell’s Broken Arrow, Okla., Sylacauga, Ala., and Brenham, Texas, facilities was prompted by three deaths and seven illnesses linked to consumption of tainted products. The outbreak resulted in a full recall of all Blue Bell products.
A report released by the FDA on Thursday found 16 instances in which listeria was detected on non-food contact areas at the Oklahoma plant dating from March 19, 2013, to Jan. 13, 2015. The bacteria were found on floors, pallet jacks, water hoses, among other locations at the facility.
Though food doesn’t come in direct contact with those areas, the report also determined employees did not always wash their hands or change gloves between touching non-food contact areas, and food contact areas or food items.
In one instance, employees were observed pouring orange puree into a tank of orange sherbet from buckets that had been stored directly on wet wood pallets. Those pallets showed evidence of a black, mold-like residue. The report said the employees picked up the buckets by the bottom surface, then later touched the top and interior of the buckets, “possibly contaminating the food contact surface.”
The investigation found equipment at the Oklahoma plant, in addition to the ones in Alabama and Texas, was constructed in such a way to make it difficult to clean properly to prevent contamination.
Blue Bell CEO and President Paul Kruse said it could be “several months at a minimum” before the company’s products are back on the shelves.
“We are evaluating all of our operations in light of this extended timeline, we are working closely with the appropriate federal and state regulatory agencies and our microbiology experts, and we are mapping out the many details of returning to production and distribution as soon as we can do so with confidence,” he said.
