A Texas ice cream company that pushed hard into Las Vegas last year is recalling products in Nevada and nearly two dozen other states amid fears of a bacteria contamination linked to three deaths in Kansas.
Blue Bell Creameries, which opened a distribution center in Southern Nevada a year ago and bought land here a few months ago, started recalling products nationwide last month and temporarily closed an Oklahoma manufacturing plant last week after five people in Kansas fell ill and were treated for listeria monocytogenes.
Strains of the illness were found in Blue Bell ice cream products made in Texas. At least four of the patients had eaten Blue Bell ice cream, and three died, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Blue Bell, which recalled two dozen products in recent weeks, announced Tuesday that it’s also pulling banana pudding ice cream because the FDA told the dessert maker that a pint tested positive for listeria monocytogenes.
Listeria is a bacteria found in soil, water and some animals, including poultry and cattle. It can be present in raw milk and foods made from raw milk, and unlike other germs, it “can grow even in the cold temperature of the refrigerator,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The bacteria is killed by cooking and pasteurization, the agency says.
According to Blue Bell, the bacteria can cause headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, as well as miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Blue Bell has not detailed the recall’s exact impact in the Las Vegas area but has said that products being recalled are distributed to supermarkets, convenience stores and other retail outlets in Nevada and 22 other states.
Wal-Mart Stores, with dozens of Nevada locations, has pulled Blue Bell products that were made in the now-closed Oklahoma facility but continues to sell Blue Bell treats that were made elsewhere, spokesman Brian Nick said today.
Management removed the products “as a matter of precaution,” he said.
The retail powerhouse has 43 Wal-Mart locations, including neighborhood markets, and seven Sam’s Club stores in Nevada.
Grocery chains Albertsons and Vons, which are owned by the same investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management, have also pulled Blue Bell products from their stores in Southern Nevada, spokesman Paul Bancroft-Turner said.
Management stopped selling Blue Bell desserts that were made in the Oklahoma plant, and if treats remain available for purchase at the stores, they were made elsewhere, he said.
Albertsons has 35 stores in Southern Nevada, and Vons has nine.
Blue Bell spokesman Gene Grabowski said the company does not know how many stores in the Las Vegas area have been affected. He said each retailer decides "what to stock or voluntarily remove from the shelves," and that about 130 stores in Nevada sell Blue Bell products.
(Grabowski is a public relations executive in Washington, D.C., who, according to his online bio, received the “PR News Crisis Manager of the Year Award for his work on various campaigns, including the litigation struggle of the Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo, the global lead-paint-in-toys recall, and the North American recall of pet foods.”)
Blue Bell, based in Brenham, Texas, announced in February of last year that it planned to open a 12,000-square-foot distribution facility near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway the next month to serve customers in the valley, Mesquite and Pahrump.
Its desserts were expected to be sold at Albertsons, Smith’s, Food 4 Less, Glaziers Food Marketplace, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and other retailers in Southern Nevada.
At the time, the company said Blue Bell was sold only in parts of 23 states but was the No. 3 selling branded ice cream in the country, “because the ice cream is so popular in the markets where it is available.”
In December, the company also bought a 2.3-acre parcel of land north of Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson for $600,000, property records show.