Those of us with the Blue Bell ice cream addiction have no reason to fret as local grocery stores in Shelby and San Augustine Counties have not been told to pull any of the Brenham-based creamery's product from their shelves following a fatal listeria outbreak last month. This is primarily due to grocery outlets here receiving products from the Brenham location.

Last Friday, H-E-B corporate-wide took products from 300 of their Texas and northern Mexico stores, and yesterday, Wal-mart, Sam’s Clubs and Kroger pulled all products made at the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma creamery.

On Friday, Blue Bell suspended operations at that plant where officials had connected to contaminated ice cream that’s linked to a food-borne illness connected to three deaths in Kansas.

Public health officials warned consumers Friday not to eat any Blue Bell-branded products made at the company's Oklahoma, plant. That includes 3-ounce servings of Blue Bell ice cream that went to institutions in containers marked with the letters O, P, Q, R, S or T behind the coding date.

Again, none of the Brookshire Brothers stores in our area, Wal-mart or independent grocery stores have been forced to remove Blue Bell products from sale.  

According to Blue Bell's corporate office, the Broken Arrow operations have been suspended so that a team of expert consultants can conduct a careful and complete examination to determine the exact cause of the contamination.