DOJ Investigating Blue Bell Creameries Response to Listeria Contamination

The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Blue Bell Creameries LP over listeria contamination of its ice cream that was linked to three deaths and multiple other illnesses, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Government lawyers are looking into what Blue Bell executives knew about listeria in its plants and potentially its products, and what they did in response, the person said.

The Brenham, Texas, company, one of the biggest U.S. ice cream brands, in April recalled all of its products in response to the listeria contamination, which affected ice cream at all three of its main plants. Blue Bell started shipping ice cream again in August, with regulators' approval, after what it called a comprehensive review of its operations that led to enhanced procedures and equipment.

Details of the investigation couldn't be learned. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Blue Bell didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. The investigation was reported earlier by CBS News.

Blue Bell previously has said it had a practice of cleaning surfaces in its factories that tested positive for listeria, but that in hindsight its processes weren't adequate. The company said earlier this year it conducted a comprehensive review of its operations and put in place enhanced procedures and equipment designed to ensure its products are safe.

Food-safety lawyers say it has become increasingly common in recent years for the Justice Department to look into food companies that have shipped contaminated products which resulted in illnesses or deaths. "It's no longer unusual for the Justice Department to take an interest in an outbreak of this magnitude," said James Neale, a Virginia attorney who represents companies in foodborne-illness cases but isn't involved in the Blue Bell case.

In several recent cases, the agency has undertaken high-profile criminal prosecutions that have jolted the food industry.

In the most prominent example, Stewart Parnell, the former owner of Peanut Corp. of America, was sentenced in September to 28 years in prison a year after being convicted of presiding over a coverup that led to a deadly salmonella outbreak. Legal experts said it was the most severe punishment ever in a U.S. food-safety case.

And in May, a ConAgra Foods Inc. unit agreed to pay a fine of $11.2 million and to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge to resolve allegations that the company shipped peanut butter contaminated with salmonella in an outbreak that sickened more than 700 people.

Blue Bell's listeria problem was one of several high-profile food-safety scares this year involving well-known brands. Most recently, sales at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. have been hit amid a series of foodborne disease outbreaks, including a multistate E. coli episode in which at least 53 people were sickened. Chipotle has said it has since strengthened its food-safety practices.

Blue Bell's recall threatened to ruin the 108-year-old company, causing it to lay off or furlough much of its workforce and agree to an emergency investment from Texas billionaire Sid Bass.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration records made public after the recall showed that the company failed to follow practices recommended by government and industry groups that might have prevented contamination, including having a comprehensive food-safety program.

The FDA in September finalized rules for implementing the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act that require companies to detail in writing such programs.

Blue Bell is currently in the later stages of an ambitious, five-phase program to revive its sales. On Monday it said it would enter the fifth phase in January with shipments to parts of the Southeast including Florida and Georgia. It said that after completing that phase, all of the workers it had furloughed after the recall will have returned to work.

Write to Jesse Newman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 30, 2015 20:05 ET (01:05 GMT)

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