Blue Bell Creameries announced this week that its ice cream will be back in most of Texas, as the Brenham, Texas company continues its comeback from a listeria contamination episode that led to the recall of all of its products and plant closures last spring.
A news release published to the Blue Bell website said the company began distributing ice cream products Monday morning as part of the third phase of its five-phase market re-entry plan.
“Phase three reaches the remaining majority of Texas as well as central and southern Alabama,” Ricky Dickson, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue Bell, said in the news release. “This is our largest phase to date but we will work as quickly as we can to get our products in stores. Freezers will be refilled as needed throughout the week.”
According to the Blue Bell release:
Blue Bell is once again making ice cream at its three production facilities located in Brenham, Texas, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Sylacauga, Ala. “We have increased our production capacity which allows us to build enough inventory to meet the consumer demand in our first two phases and move into phases three and four within a week of each other,” Dickson said. “With three of our plants now in production we also have plans to expand our flavor selection.”
For now Blue Bell is producing the following flavors of ice cream: Buttered Pecan, Cookies ’n Cream, Dutch Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla, Peppermint, Pistachio Almond and The Great Divide. 12-pak Homemade Vanilla Cups and 12-pak Homemade Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate Cups are also available in stores.
Blue Bell will begin phase four, which will cover the state of Louisiana and Jackson, Miss., and its surrounding areas, on Dec. 21. It was announced on Friday that the El Paso, Texas, Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., markets will have ice cream in stores beginning Jan. 11. A date for phase five has not yet been announced.