Despite the recent recall of all Blue Bell ice cream and related products due to the potential risk of Listeria contamination, the company apparently has such a devoted following that some would-be entrepreneurs are attempting to make a quick buck by selling their previously purchased ice cream via online ads.
According to an Austin, Texas, TV station, a man in Spicewood, TX, attempted to sell a pint of Blue Bell’s Krazy Kookie Dough ice cream for $10,000 on Craigslist (which works out to $625 per ounce).
This offer came from a Dallas Craigslist ad posted in late April (unedited): “I have half a tub of Blue bell Homemade Vanilla flavor ice cream left. No listeria (I ate the first half and i’m still here). I am willing to sample the blue bell in front of legitimate buyers (Legitimate meaning CASH in HAND). Please reply to posting Can’t guarantee it for long……I might get hungry! Pics coming soon.” The asking price was $500.
KPRC News in Houston located a much better deal: “We found an ad on Craigslist from a seller who claims to be in Dickinson and wrote, ‘I’ve got the motherload [mother lode] of bell [Bell]. All the goods.'”
This person, who was willing to sell half-gallons of Blue Bell ice cream for $5 each, ended the ad by stating, “This ad doesn’t have to be the great divide, so don’t banana split on me, and shoot me a text and come on down for some pre-listeria goodness.”
There were similar efforts to make money from selling Blue Bell ice cream on eBay, according to CBS 11 News in Dallas/Fort Worth. The station reported finding a gallon of Blue Bell Cookies and Cream ice cream on eBay for $50 and a pint of Dutch Chocolate for $10, with the seller indicating the buyer “could be a part of history by purchasing it.”
Another party, this one in League City, TX, offered up their “pre-recall” Blue Bell ice cream (a gallon of Cookies ‘n Cream and a few small cups of Homemade Vanilla) on eBay for $50, plus shipping. This person reportedly added, “Unopened and bought long before the recall. Will ship with dry ice.”
However, eBay has a company policy against selling recalled items and has removed all postings offering to sell Blue Bell ice cream.
Blue Bell announced April 20, 2015, that all of its products currently on the market made at all of its facilities, including ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks, were being recalled because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
Under the frequently asked questions section of the Blue Bell website is this item: “Q. Should people eat old Blue Bell products? A: Please don’t consume Blue Bell products. Instead, please return the product to the store where you purchased it for a refund.”
Listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are now 10 people in four states who have been sickened in connection with Blue Bell products. All 10 were hospitalized, and three people in Kansas who were already in the hospital for other reasons died.
CDC noted that illness onset dates ranged from January 2010 through January 2015, and that those patients with illness onsets ranging from 2010-2014 had been identified using the PulseNet database for DNA fingerprints similar to isolates collected from Blue Bell ice cream samples.
“CDC recommends that consumers do not eat any Blue Bell brand products, and that institutions and retailers do not serve or sell them,” stated the agency’s most recent update on the outbreak posted May 7.
Inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently visited three of Blue Bell’s four manufacturing facilities and noted numerous violations at all three, including that the company had tested for and found Listeria in its Broken Arrow, OK, plant in 2013 and 2014, although not on food-contact surfaces.
Company officials said last week that they were preparing detailed responses to those FDA inspection reports.
from Food Safety News » Food Recalls http://ift.tt/1L19jWO
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