3 Kansas Patients Die From Tainted Ice Cream

Three people in Kansas have died after eating contaminated Blue Bell Creameries brand ice cream products, health officials said.

A total of five people in the state were infected with life-threatening listeriosis, which is caused by exposure to the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Four of the ill individuals told health authorities they drank milkshakes made with a Blue Bell brand ice cream product called “Scoops” in the last month.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says all of the individuals were being treated in the same hospital for unrelated conditions, suggesting they acquired the infections at the hospital.

The tainted products came from one Blue Bell production facility in Brenham, Texas, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement. The agency found three strains of the bacteria in Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Country Cookies, Great Divide Bars, Sour Pop Green Apple Bars, Cotton Candy Bars, Scoops, Vanilla Stick Slices, Almond Bars and No Sugar Added Moo Bars.

The CDC says Blue Bell has removed potentially contaminated products from the market, buy but that “contaminated ice cream products may still be in the freezers of consumers, institutions, and retailers.”

“One of our machines produced a limited amount of frozen snacks with a potential listeria problem,” Blue Bell said in a statement that noted it was the company’s first product recall in over a century. “When this was detected all products produced by this machine were withdrawn. Our Blue Bell team members recovered all involved products in stores and storage. This withdrawal in no way includes our half gallons, quarts, pints, cups, three gallon ice cream or the majority of take-home frozen snack novelties.”

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