Blue Bell Can Start Producing Ice Cream At Alabama Plant

A few weeks ago, Blue Bell ice cream announced that it received an investment from Sid Bass. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Bass is a billionaire from Texas, and his investment in Blue Bell may have saved the company. Earlier in the year, Blue Bell had to recall a number of its ice cream products due to it being contaminated with listeria. Blue Bell started to recall the products on March 13, but expanded it by April 20.

When Blue Bell initially announced the recall, Paul Kruse, the CEO and President of Blue Bell, said that the recall was voluntary. Kruse added that the contaminated products were traced back to a facility in Brenham, Texas, which is where the company’s headquarters is located.

On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced that Baby Bell Ice Cream can continue with production and sale of ice cream that is produced at the company’s plant in Alabama.

Ron Dawsey, the director of the department’s Division of Food, Milk and Lodging, said that Blue Bell’s creamery in Sylacauga was inspected by the state and all of the state public health standards were met, according to ABC.

According to CNN, Blue Bell also Tweeted on Wednesday, saying that their plant in Alabama was cranking out ice cream, as well as building inventory.

We’re busy at our Sylacauga, AL, facility crankin’ out ice cream and building inventory.

— Blue Bell Ice Cream (@ILoveBlueBell) August 5, 2015

Blue Bell has been producing ice cream at the plant since July 8. A spokeswoman for Blue Bell said that the company is working on building up their inventory, but as of now, there is no set date on when the brand will be back on the shelves of stores.

Earlier this year, Blue Bell announced that it was going to run trials in Alabama instead of the plant in Brenham because the plan in Alabama was smaller. The company said it would be able to make improvements faster at the Alabama plant. According to WFAA, as for the plant in Brenham, it may be the last plant that will restart production. The Texas State Department of Health said that Blue Bell has not notified them yet, and they need to do so two weeks before any trial production takes place.

Listeria is a type of bacteria and may be life-threatening. The bacteria is particularly dangerous for the elderly, children, and women who are pregnant, and for those who do not have healthy immune systems. The bacteria has been quite a nuisance for the ice cream industry. Aside from halting Blue Bell’s production, listeria forced Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream to close its shops for a week.

[Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images]