Texas Health Officials Tell Blue Bell What Must be Done to Start Making Ice Cream Again

Today, Texas Health Officials finalized the steps ice cream producer Blue Bell must take in order to begin making and selling it's product once again from it's Brenham plant. As you know, a few weeks back, the company shut down it's plant due to positive testing for Listeria...a very serious bacteria that can cause severe illness and even death.

The health officials outlined certain steps Blue Bell must take before entering it's product into the marketplace for consumption.

Those steps include:

Blue Bell must notify the Texas Department of State Health Services at least two weeks before its intent to start producing ice cream for sale so health officials can conduct a full assessment of the company’s progress and test results.

The company must conduct trial production runs of ice cream that will be tested separately by DSHS and the company for Listeria monocytogenes.

The products must consistently test negative before they can be distributed to the public.

A trial run with negative test results must occur for each production line before the line can begin making ice cream for sale.

Also, health officials will be on hand at the Brenham plant to routinely monitor trial runs etc. The company will be testing ice cream, ingredients, food surfaces, machinery and other equipment in its Brenham plant for Listeria and allow state health inspectors to review all results.

State health officials also are reviewing deep-cleaning procedures, ongoing sanitation processes and training activities at the Brenham plant. Blue Bell has retained an independent expert to oversee sanitation efforts and, as part of the agreement, will conduct root cause analyses to try to determine the sources of contamination.

Texas is working with state and national experts to examine frozen dessert manufacturing and identify changes that may be needed to strengthen regulations to protect public health.

So soon Blue Bell will hopefully return to all it's former glory......Good......I miss me some Banana Split ice cream!