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By News Desk | December 31, 2016
Blue Bell Creameries wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to release it from doing more expensive production plant environmental testing for foodborne pathogens in favor of specific product testing that it says is more in line with what it calls “the industry norm.”
There is no word on FDA’s response to the request, which was made available to the Houston Chronicle under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) submittal.
Attorney Joseph Levitt made the request to FDA on behalf of Blue Bell. The company contends the environmental testing results in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of cartons of ice cream worth millions of dollars that are not contaminated by bacteria just because pathogens are found in the production plant. Blue Bell wants to limit the destruction of products to only those that test positive for a contaminant.
In 2015, Blue Bell was linked to a deadly five-year, multi-state Listeria outbreak, which forced it to remove its iconic brand of ice cream from grocery freezer spaces and close its three production facilities. Questions of what and when Blue Bell knew also attracted the interest of the U.S. Department of Justice over possible federal criminal charges.
Things did not exactly go smoothly for Brenham, TX-based Blue Bell this year either. Early in 2016, Bell Blue reported Listeria will always be a threat. Company officials said their new cleaning, sanitizing and testing programs are keeping their customers as safe as possible, though.
Texas officials imposed a fine and put Blue Bell on a short leash in July 2016. An agreement between Blue Bell and the Texas State Department of Health Services required the company to pay $175,000 within 30 days of the signing of the agreement. Another $675,000 — for a total fine of $850,000 — must be “held in abeyance” and would go to the state if Blue Bell fails to meet food safety requirements in the coming 18 months.
Two months after signing the agreement with Texas, Blue Bell was again recalling ice cream because of potential Listeria contamination, but this time blaming cookie dough from a supplier as the source. That claim turned out to be true and cookie dough producer Aspen Hills Inc. of Garner, IA, recalled its dough, triggering a series of secondary recalls of other products.
