Blue Bell ice cream’s Twitter account was established in July 2011.
But the first post wasn’t made until this past Tuesday, April 21.
Through Friday, 45 tweets have come from the @ILoveBlueBell account.
The most recent, were an employee video and an group employee photo from the home plant in Brenham.
A heartfelt message from our employees from Blue Bell Creameries on Vimeo.
From Blue Bell’s website:
BRENHAM, TEXAS – On Monday, April 27, Blue Bell Ice Cream will embark on an intensive cleaning program while it simultaneously conducts a new training program for its employees at all four production facilities with locations in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas.
After a thorough review of operations and discussions with an expert microbiologist, it was decided this cleaning and training program will greatly benefit Blue Bell as it moves forward. Ice cream being produced this week will be used for testing and gathering baseline data and will not be sold to the public.
Training and future improvements at Blue Bell include:
– Highly aggressive cleaning techniques
-Increased actions focused on sanitation and cleanliness
-Strengthening of standard operating procedures
-Enhancements to its preventative maintenance program
– Equipment design changes
“We’ve always worked to make the very highest quality ice cream,” said Blue Bell CEO and President Paul Kruse. “We intend to make a fresh start and that begins with intensive cleaning and enhanced training. This is a paradigm shifting event at Blue Bell and we want to put in place new systems to drive continuous improvement.”
From the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON (AP)—Major recalls from two well-known ice cream companies due to the discovery of listeria bacteria raise questions about how the pathogen could have contaminated multiple ice cream manufacturing plants — and whether the discoveries are related.
Blue Bell Creameries of Texas and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams of Ohio both took products off shelves this week after listeria was discovered in their products. Blue Bell ice cream is linked to 10 illnesses in four states, including three deaths. There are no known illnesses linked to the Jeni’s recall.
The recalls are unusual: Listeria is rarely found in ice cream because it can’t grow at freezing temperatures. A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration says it has no evidence, for now, that the two recalls are connected.