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FDA: Before recall, Blue Bell Ice Cream knew of and ignored listeria concern for 2yrs

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Jag

Member
The FDA will give companies reasonable time to fix concerns, but they don't go easy on companies at all. The FDA is extremely strict.

Then again, I can't really expect most people here to know what it's like to interact with the FDA.

It's even more fun when they invite their friends FTC and DEA to the party!

Blue Bell was good ice cream, but if they knew and didn't shut down that plant, they deserve to go under for good.
 
I don't think I can ever eat Blue Bell again even though there were the only ones I buy. It's not worth dieing over icecream when there's so many good alternative makers.
 

The Lamp

Member
It's even more fun when they invite their friends FTC and DEA to the party!

Blue Bell was good ice cream, but if they knew and didn't shut down that plant, they deserve to go under for good.

lol at comparing the FDA to the FTC (I don't know enough about the DEA).

FTC is much more of a "reactionary" organization than the FDA. They regulate the supplements industry and by "regulate" I mean they usually wait for something to go wrong before they do anything about it. Very different from the FDA. If supplements were regulated by the FDA, GNC would be a very different store.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Please! I thought it was pretty well known government regulators never go full ham on companies because they don't actually want to hurt their business even if its getting people killed.

Example

....but without the FDA we never would have found out about this or perhaps even had a recall at all
 
I don't think this is big enough (as terrible as it is) to break brand loyalty in the south. People love their fuckin Blue Bell to death down here.
 

Arkeband

Banned
It's okay guys, the free market will weed things like this out. People will look at the deaths and stop buying Blue Bell Ice Cream. There's no need for something like the FDA to pre-emptively stop things like this from happening every day.

/s
 

Sulik2

Member
I seem to remember watching in a documentary that the FDA doesn't actually have the power to shut down factories that fail their checks now. I wonder if that is what happened here.
 

Meier

Member
I want to say it's a shame because Blue Bell ice cream is amazing and all this lost revenue will be devastating to the company and affect a lot of people but this is really fucked up and there should be extreme repercussions. A real black eye on Texas.
 
From model penal code 2.07
(b) Whenever a duty to act is imposed by law upon a corporation or an unincorporated association, any agent of the corporation or association having primary responsibility for the discharge of the duty is legally accountable for a reckless omission to perform the required act to the same extent as if the duty were imposed by law directly upon himself.

Recklessness = conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

I don't know what the criminal code is in the appropriate jurisdiction but if it follows the MPC it's possible someone in the company could be charged.
 
This is just.... So heartbreaking. This is the stuff organization can get away with, just pay their way out while they poison and cause the death of a population for greed, and yet some people have more of an issue about people on welfare while turning a blind eye to shit like this.

Glad I have never ate their ice cream ever and the FDA caught their ass. Disgusting
 

Ronin Ray

Member
Well I have stopped eating ice cream for health reasons and this has made it so much easier. It was crazy when I went to the grocery store a few months ago and all the Blue Bell ice was gone. That section in the freezer is still empty.
 

MechDX

Member
Seriously sucks, Blue Bell ice cream is delicious but this is rather unforgivable.

Seriously. Even if they bounce back I will find it hard to buy their product again.

cobb_t250.jpg


Goodbye Blackberry Cobbler. You were sooooo delicious.
 
Seriously. Even if they bounce back I will find it hard to buy their product again.

cobb_t250.jpg


Goodbye Blackberry Cobbler. You were sooooo delicious.

Yeah they had so many unique flavors, I liked banana pudding as well.

Braum's has to step up their southern ice cream game now
 

Jag

Member
lol at comparing the FDA to the FTC (I don't know enough about the DEA).

I never compared them. They can and do act in concert when warranted and then you are supremely fucked.

FTC is much more of a "reactionary" organization than the FDA. They regulate the supplements industry and by "regulate" I mean they usually wait for something to go wrong before they do anything about it. Very different from the FDA. If supplements were regulated by the FDA, GNC would be a very different store.

The same could be said about the FDA for food regulation. FTC is actually extremely powerful (while obviously much more limited in scope than the FDA). The FDA can seize your products, the FTC will seize your bank accounts.

It's not clear what the FDA knew or when yet, but they do have the enforcement authority to shut these places down.
 

Ultima_5

Member
Fucking sick. And some people actually think corporations needs less regulation not more, fucking yeah right! Your product, which is meant to be eaten, is literally full of something deadly and you just keep on keeping on.

FDA is no fucking better being in bed with these companies.

i feel like you don't know how government entities actually interact with industry.

and i say this as someone whose job is interfacing between state/fed regulations/entities at an oil compnay
 
I don't think this is big enough (as terrible as it is) to break brand loyalty in the south. People love their fuckin Blue Bell to death down here.

Yup. Seen so many "I stand with Blue Bell" type posts on social media right now. Even in light of stuff like the topic hand.

I grew up on Blue Bell but I don't mind switching ice cream brands. I wish Dallas would get an HEB because the store brand ice cream there was pretty good from what I remember.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
All the reports and stories I hear about government regulators from the oil and gas, fiance, and mining sectors regularly not doing their jobs makes me doubt somehow the FDA is one of the few bastions out there actually doing their job unlike the rest.

I bet there's plenty of people who'd tell you that regulators were totally doing their jobs right before the Deepwater Horizon disaster or the great recession.

Also understand that regulation is limited by statutes to begin with.

Bank examiners, for example, would have loved to prevent the 2008 crash but they didn't have adequate regulation to prevent it. Which is why Dodd-Frank was enacted in response.

Legislation unfortunately is reactive and not proactive.
 

Enron

Banned
All the reports and stories I hear about government regulators from the oil and gas, fiance, and mining sectors regularly not doing their jobs makes me doubt somehow the FDA is one of the few bastions out there actually doing their job unlike the rest.

I bet there's plenty of people who'd tell you that regulators were totally doing their jobs right before the Deepwater Horizon disaster or the great recession.

I once worked for a regulatory agency. They definitely are cozy with industry seeing as how most people who work in these agencies have to have backgrounds in the industry but its not like they are going to just turn a blind eye to major shit.
 

Wreav

Banned
Coming out of this, Blue Bell will be the safest ice cream to eat for decades. The FDA will be so far up their ass they won't have a chance to fuck up like this again.
 

Enron

Banned
It's basically the go-to general ice cream here in Texas. You'll go to a place that makes floats or something and they'll be a sign that says "MADE WITH BLUE BELL!". Not that there aren't better options but growing up in South Texas is was all my family bought.

The crazy part is they had TWO recalls because they tried to skate by after the first one under the guise of it only being a couple of products tainted instead of pulling the entire lineup until a few weeks later.

Braums > Blue Bell
 

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I don't see Blue Bell going out of business or masses of people not buying it once it is back on the shelves. Listeria or not, people down south love their Blue Bell and this will only strengthen that bond. Hell, when it got put back on the shelves after the first scare, it was selling like crazy. When it was announced that people should bring their product back because of the recall, people were saying, "Screw that, let's eat up!".
 

Zach

Member
My friend worked briefly at that plant after college. He said the staff was a bunch of yokels who mocked him for not wanting to be a "lifer".

>_>
 

Koomaster

Member
Ignore what I said last thread about wanting to try their icecream because of all the fuss people were making because it was recalled and they couldn't get any. If the company is this negligent, don't think I need icecream that badly. :/
 

TylerD

Member
Blue Bell Vanilla Ingredients:

Milk, Cream, Sugar, Skim Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Natural And Artificial Vanilla Flavor, Cellulose Gum, Vegetable Gums (Guar, Carrageenan, Carob Bean), Salt, Annatto Color. MAYBE LISTERIA!!!

I like making my own so you don't get that stuff. If I don't make my own, then:

Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ingredients:

Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolks, Natural Vanilla
 

Theecliff

Banned
See, corporations are people too! They're just, ya'know, greedy and psychopathic. Yep.

Seriously though this sounds completely fucked up. I'm sorta glad this brand isn't in the UK.
 
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