An investment from Texas billionaire Sid Bass will ensure the return of Blue Bell ice cream to the market after listeria contamination prompted a shutdown in manufacturing, the company said Tuesday.
Blue Bell, a leading ice cream brand in the southern U.S., had to recall its products in April after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered that Blue Bell was the source of a listeriosis outbreak, according to CNN.
As reported by the CDC, listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems. However, in rare instances, persons without these risk factors can also be affected. For healthy individuals it can cause symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
The company has yet to reveal when its products will be back in stores. In May it announced that it would be "at least several months" before it was selling ice cream again. However last week it revealed plans to test production runs at its Alabama plant, The Denver Post reported.
The business doesn't release financial data, but estimates from research firms reveal that Blue Bell was ranked third in U.S. ice cream sales last year - behind Nestlé SA, the maker of Edy's, and Unilever PLC, maker of Ben & Jerry's.
