Foodservice

Blue Bell Creameries to pay $19+ million over 2015 listeriosis outbreak

May 4, 2020

Blue Bell Creameries L.P. will pay a total $19.35 million as part of an agreement to plead guilty to charges it shipped contaminated products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, and the company's former president was charged in connection with a scheme to cover up the incident, the Justice Department announced in a press release. 

In a plea agreement filed with a criminal information in federal court in Austin, Texas, Blue Bell agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice cream products and pay a criminal fine and forfeiture amount totaling $17.25 million. Blue Bell also agreed to pay an additional $2.1 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations regarding ice cream products manufactured under insanitary conditions and sold to federal facilities. The total $19.35 million in fine, forfeiture and civil settlement payments constitutes the second largest-ever amount paid in resolution of a food-safety matter.

In a related case, Blue Bell's former president, Paul Kruse, also was charged with seven felony counts related to his alleged efforts to conceal from customers what the company knew about the listeria contamination.

Blue Bell stated on its website it shut down its facilities and revamped its production procedures before reopening in 2015. It said the company tests its ice cream using independent sources.