Texas-based ice cream manufacturer Blue Bell Creameries LP. agreed 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 today.
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.