Blue Bell ice cream issued a mass recall after the deaths of three people at a Kansas hospital were linked to products contaminated with listeria, the FDA and CDC said Friday according to the Associated Press.
A total of five patients treated at Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita between December 2013 and January 2015 were diagnosed with listeriosis, a life-threatening infection caused by the bacteria listeria.
The infections occurred after they consumed products made with Blue Bell ice cream from a production line at the company's creamery in Brenham, Texas, the Food and Drug Administration said according to the AP.
Listeria was also found in Blue Bell products in South Carolina.
Based on the information available, health officials determined four of the five patients ate milkshakes containing Blue Bell's "Scoops" single-serving ice cream.
Other contaminated Blue Bell products include Chocolate Chip Country Cookies, Great Divide Bars, Sour Pop Green Apple Bars, No Sugar Added Moo Bars, Cotton Candy Bars, Almond Bars and Vanilla Stick Slices. The public is advised to stay away from those products.
The recall, the first in Blue Bell's 108-year history, was issued as soon as the company learned of the contamination in February, Brenham creamery CEO Paul Kruse told the AP.
Symptoms of listeriosis, which can appear within seven days, include fever, diarrhea and muscle aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can also lead to infection of the bloodstream and meningitis.
All patients were being treated for unrelated illnesses at Via Christi before they were diagnosed with the infection, "a finding that strongly suggests their infections (with listeria bacteria) were acquired in the hospital," the CDC said.
"Via Christi was not aware of any listeria contamination in the Blue Bell Creameries ice cream products and immediately removed all Blue Bell Creameries products from all Via Christi locations once the potential contamination was discovered," hospital spokeswoman Maria Loving told the AP.
Kruse said "Scoops" is a Blue Bell food service item not produced for retail.
The only time the products could have been contaminated "is at the time of production," Kruse told the AP. Officials traced the contamination to a machine that ejects the ice cream onto cookies and into shapes.
That machine is currently not in use, the CEO said. An investigation into the contamination is ongoing.
