Popular Ice Cream Infected With Listeria Causing Three Deaths So Far (These Products You Shouldn’t Buy)

They both start with the letter “i”. Oh, and Blue Bell.

Blue Bell, the Texas ice cream icon, is the cause of three deaths in a Kansas hospital. I’m not saying they’re evil or anything - just that they made, packaged, and sold ice cream products on a machine contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Not exactly your typical frozen treat.

Ice cream’s taste is supposed to be infectious.

Listeria monocytogenes leads to listeriosis, a life-threatening foodborne disease that arrives with fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, and usually turns into invasive infection, meaning the bacteria spread from the unfortunate victim’s intestines to their blood. That leads to bloodstream infection, or to the central nervous system, causing meningitis.

The Blue Bell Tolls For Thee

In total, five patients at Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita, Kansas were infected from milkshakes made with a single scoop of Scoops, a Blue Bell product. Shouldn’t serving milkshakes in hospitals be against the Hippocratic oath?

Infected Blue Bell products:

- Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Country Cookies

- Great Divide Bars

- Sour Pop Green Apple Bars

- Cotton Candy Bars

- Vanilla Stick Slices

- Almond Bars

- No Sugar Added Moo Bars

- Scoops

Listeria bacteria were found in eight Blue Bell products, which are mostly food service items.

Maybe that sounds okay, because you won’t have brought them into your home, but when you consider that the ice cream mogul delivers to 23 states and is number three in sales in the U.S., you realize how potentially devastating this health hazard was. Luckily, the machine is now off line and Blue Bell has issued the first product recall in its 108-year history.

What does this mean for you?

A) Stay away from Blue Bell products for a little while.

B) Switch to making healthy homemade ice cream.

It’s easy, tasty, and listeriosis free. You’re the only one that will ever issue a recall, and you’ll only recall the delicious stuff so you can eat more of it - because I know you keep your kitchen clean.

The best way to make sure your food is absolutely safe to eat is make it your self. I know it’s harsh news, but thanks to companies cutting corners for the sake profits, there’s no other away around it.

Blue Bell products seem to be loved in the southern states, but homemade ice cream means you know what you’re putting into your body. As long as you haven’t been eating recalled ice cream, you’ll be fine, but making the healthy switch now is as good a time as any.

Sources:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/healthy_homemade_ice_cream_recipes

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/3-kansas-hospital-patients-die-of-ice-cream-related-illness/ar-AA9K0lv

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/14/blue-bell-recalls-ice-cream-patients-die-food-borne-illness

www.bluebell.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bell_Creameries

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