WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries must pay a record fine of more than $17 million for shipping ice cream products contaminated with listeria, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.
"A Federal court in Texas sentenced ice cream manufacturer Blue Bell Creameries L.P. to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, the Justice Department announced today," the department said in a statement. "The $17.25 million fine and forfeiture amount is the largest-ever criminal penalty following a conviction in a food safety case."
Blue Bell's products, the release added, were allegedly manufactured under insanitary conditions and contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes - a dangerous pathogen that can lead to serious illness or death in vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, newborns, and the elderly.
FDA inspections revealed sanitation issues at two facilities, including problems with the hot water supply needed to properly sterilize equipment, as well as conditions that could lead to insanitary water dripping into product mix during the manufacturing process, according to the release.
Blue Bell temporarily closed all of its plants in late April 2015 as a result and has since taken steps to correct faulty sanitation deficiencies, the release said.
Blue Bell pleaded guilty in May 2020 to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice cream products, the release said.
