Blue Bell Creameries has issued a recall of ice cream products after an outbreak of 5 listeriosis cases was linked to Blue Bell Scoops served at Via Christi Hospital in Wichita, Kansas.
The products below may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and should not be eaten:
- Chocolate Chip Country Cookie – SKU #196
- Great Divide Bar – SKU #108
- Sour Pop Green Apple Bar – SKU #221
- Cotton Candy Bar – SKU #216
- Scoops – SKU #117
- Vanilla Stick Slices – SKU #964
- Almond Bars – SKU #156
- 6 Pack Cotton Candy Bars – SKU #245
- 6 pack Sour Pop Green Apple Bars – SKU #249
- 12 pack No Sugar Added Mooo Bars – SKU #
The regular Mooo Bars, available at grocery stores, are not subject to recall.
What Should You Do if Someone Was Sickened by a Blue Bell Product?
Below is a video that may be helpful. Fred Pritzker, a national Listeria lawyer who is investigating this recall and outbreak, discusses 5 things you can do if a loved one is diagnosed with listeriosis.
You can click here now if you would like a FREE consultation.
The incubation period for Listeria can be as long as 70 days, so if someone in your family ate one of these products, you will have to wait for that period of time to find out if the product transmitted illness. Symptoms for listeriosis vary depending on the person who ate the contaminated food:
- Newborn babies, older adults and people with compromised immune systems (cancer, HIV, diabetes, etc): fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion (obviously not something that can be determined with a baby), loss of balance (again, not applicable for babies), and convulsions, with a high likelihood of the Listeria bacteria getting into the blood stream and traveling to the brain (causing meningitis), lungs (possible pneumonia), heart, pancreas and elsewhere.
- Pregnant women: generally, only fever, chills and headache; however, if the woman’s immune system is at all compromised, she can get very, very sick, and her infection during pregnancy can also lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or deadly infection of an otherwise healthy newborn born at term.
- Healthy people: generally, just diarrhea and fever; however, there have been cases where healthy people have developed invasive listeriosis, where the bacteria get into the blood stream and cause meningitis (brain infection).
What Should You Do?
If you have any of the recalled Blue Bell products in your freezer, you should throw them away, taking care to make sure no one eats any. If someone has eaten them, you should make sure you have a receipt for the product before you throw it away.
.