Blue Bell ice cream is officially back.
Blue Bell Creameries began distributing ice cream to certain stores in Texas and Alabama today, almost half a year after listeria was found, stopping production, according to USA Today.
Blue Bell products are returning to stores slowly but surely, with ice cream returning to the shelves of Brenham, Houston, and Austin, Texas, as well as Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, according to USA Today.
The four flavors returning to stores are Homemade Vanilla, Dutch Chocolate, Cookies and Cream, and The Great Divide, according to ABC 13.
They are being produced at Blue Bell's Alabama facility, as their facility in Brenham is still closed to production, according to ABC 13. There is no word yet as to when the listeria concerns at their Brenham facility will be cleared.
Blue Bell ice cream will be reentering the markets in five phases, according to NBC News 5.
Phase two involves distribution in north and central Texas, as well as southern Oklahoma. Phase three involves distribution in southwest Texas and central Oklahoma. The fourth phase has Blue Bell returning to most of Texas and southern Louisiana. By the last phase, distribution will be complete in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas, with distribution beginning in Arkansas, Florida, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, according to USA Today.
No dates have been set for further distribution, according to NBC News 5.
