DOJ Investigating Blue Bell Creameries Response to Listeria Contamination
December 30 2015 - 08:20PM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal
investigation into Blue Bell Creameries LP over listeria
contamination of its ice cream that was linked to three deaths and
multiple other illnesses, according to a person familiar with the
matter.
Government lawyers are looking into what Blue Bell executives
knew about listeria in its plants and potentially its products, and
what they did in response, the person said.
The Brenham, Texas, company, one of the biggest U.S. ice cream
brands, in April recalled all of its products in response to the
listeria contamination, which affected ice cream at all three of
its main plants. Blue Bell started shipping ice cream again in
August, with regulators' approval, after what it called a
comprehensive review of its operations that led to enhanced
procedures and equipment.
Details of the investigation couldn't be learned. A Justice
Department spokesman declined to comment.
Blue Bell didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on
Wednesday. The investigation was reported earlier by CBS News.
Blue Bell previously has said it had a practice of cleaning
surfaces in its factories that tested positive for listeria, but
that in hindsight its processes weren't adequate. The company said
earlier this year it conducted a comprehensive review of its
operations and put in place enhanced procedures and equipment
designed to ensure its products are safe.
Food-safety lawyers say it has become increasingly common in
recent years for the Justice Department to look into food companies
that have shipped contaminated products which resulted in illnesses
or deaths. "It's no longer unusual for the Justice Department to
take an interest in an outbreak of this magnitude," said James
Neale, a Virginia attorney who represents companies in
foodborne-illness cases but isn't involved in the Blue Bell
case.
In several recent cases, the agency has undertaken high-profile
criminal prosecutions that have jolted the food industry.
In the most prominent example, Stewart Parnell, the former owner
of Peanut Corp. of America, was sentenced in September to 28 years
in prison a year after being convicted of presiding over a coverup
that led to a deadly salmonella outbreak. Legal experts said it was
the most severe punishment ever in a U.S. food-safety case.
And in May, a ConAgra Foods Inc. unit agreed to pay a fine of
$11.2 million and to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge
to resolve allegations that the company shipped peanut butter
contaminated with salmonella in an outbreak that sickened more than
700 people.
Blue Bell's listeria problem was one of several high-profile
food-safety scares this year involving well-known brands. Most
recently, sales at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. have been hit amid a
series of foodborne disease outbreaks, including a multistate E.
coli episode in which at least 53 people were sickened. Chipotle
has said it has since strengthened its food-safety practices.
Blue Bell's recall threatened to ruin the 108-year-old company,
causing it to lay off or furlough much of its workforce and agree
to an emergency investment from Texas billionaire Sid Bass.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration records made public after the
recall showed that the company failed to follow practices
recommended by government and industry groups that might have
prevented contamination, including having a comprehensive
food-safety program.
The FDA in September finalized rules for implementing the 2011
Food Safety Modernization Act that require companies to detail in
writing such programs.
Blue Bell is currently in the later stages of an ambitious,
five-phase program to revive its sales. On Monday it said it would
enter the fifth phase in January with shipments to parts of the
Southeast including Florida and Georgia. It said that after
completing that phase, all of the workers it had furloughed after
the recall will have returned to work.
Write to Jesse Newman at jesse.newman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 30, 2015 20:05 ET (01:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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