Also they downplayed the dangers before making a total recall. Who is to say they didn't know the problem already and tried to downplay it? You can't trust corporations. They won't recall unless lawyers advise them to. It wasn't about right or wrong. It was about profit and loss... And legal liability.
Maybe it's because I haven't lived in the South in a while, but I'm really surprised people still eat ice cream in this day and age. Especially with better alternatives like froyo, artisan cupcakes and other vegan delights it is a bit eye opening to read this thread.
This makes me sad. I just bought extra large ice cream cones. Now I can't buy any ice cream. Guess I'll have to go for one of the lesser brands.
At the time, the problem was traced to one factory (best I can tell, all cases have still only been tied to the one plant), the 2nd factory was discovered from testing, not from anyone actually getting sick.
I'd say they are overcompensating now more than that they downplayed it before. Obviously, they should have done some things differently before considering the length of the outbreak, but that has to do with a lack of information and understanding on their part and the part of regulators. They'd done partial recalls before that were perhaps too limited. A total recall now is really playing it safe since the Brenham plant tested clean so far as I know. In any case, profit motives and legal liability correlate well with public safety goals. The recall will cost them some money in wasted product and extra opex to scrub their plants. But the lawsuits from the 3 deaths will probably cost them more. The damage to their brand will probably cost them more too. In this case the profit motive is making them do the right thing. But, I'm still eating the ice cream I have in the freezer.
It's hard to really blame Blue Bell, though. They have been operating normally for the past 5 years, which is how early the first case was. Cases were so spread out and sparse that it's only been identified through genetics recently, and once it was, they shut it all down. They've done the right thing once they've learned of all the information.
Good grief. You realize that blue bell doesn't have a bunch of milk cows at their factory, right? They get their dairy trucked in just like HEB or anyone else.
This is totally overblown. They'll be fine, and I respect the hell out of how they responded as a company. Odawalla, the superfood organic free range cage free juice people, killed a handful of folks back in the day, then they started pasteurizing everything. It's inevitable when your food production reaches a large enough scale, that's why you see recalls of something in the news every few months. Read up about listeria, it can basically live in any organic matter (mammal, bird, fish, fruit, vegetable, soil, ice, etc...), anywhere, under any temperature.
