AUSTIN STATESMAN: LISTERIA FOUND AT BLUE BELL IN 2013

  

The Austin American Statesman is reporting that Listeria bacteria was found in Blue Bell ice cream's Oklahoma plant as far back as March of 2013.

This is according to test results released Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA says Blue Bell continued to ship ice cream produced in that plant, after what the FDA said was inadequate cleaning.

According to the Statesman, FDA inspectors found traces of listeria on a freezer floor in March of 2013 – the first of five such occurrences that year.

Aside from the freezer floor, records show other areas where listeria surfaced were on a pallet jack, a catwalk, half-gallon fillers, a drain and a water hose.

The Statesman reports that 10 samples tested positive in 2014, and listeria was once-again found this year.

Three deaths are now linked to the ice cream, and the company recalled all of its products last month.

The Food and Drug Administration released results of investigations into Blue Bell's plants in Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama.

Blue Bell issued a recall of all its products in late April. The recalls came after the FDA linked 10 listeria cases – including three deaths in Kansas – to Blue Bell products.

In response to the report, Blue Bell issued this statement Thursday afternoon:

“Several swab tests did show the presence of listeria on non-food surfaces in Blue Bell’s Broken Arrow plant in 2013.   As is standard procedure for any such positive results, the company would immediately clean the surfaces and swab until the tests were negative.   We thought our cleaning process took care of any problems, but in hindsight, it was not adequate, which is why we are currently conducting such a comprehensive re-evaluation of all our operations.”