BLUE BELL SAYS ICE CREAM SAFE DESPITE CONCERNS

  

Officials with Blue Bell are reassuring its customers that its ice cream is safe, as the company tries to determine whether listeria has been found at one of its plants.

In a statement released to the Associated Press late Monday, the company said its enhanced testing flags “suspicious areas” as an early warning system.

Blue Bell officials told the State Health Department that it found—in their words, “a couple of instances of environmental positives for Listeria species at the Brenham plant over the last month” in non-food areas such as floors and floor drains.  Blue Bell also reports those instances have been addressed.

Friday, the company said it found locations at one of its three plants where listeria could be present.

In a statement released late Monday, Blue Bell said thier customers can be confident in their ice cream because of “all the steps have been taken to ensure a safe product.  Officials go on to say their enhanced testing program confirms that their procedures are working.

Blue Bell is in in the midst of returning its products to stores after it recalled its ice cream and halted sales last year due to listeria contamination.