Ex-Blue Bell CEO to pay $100K following listeria contamination mistrial

Update:

• The former CEO of ice cream giant Blue Bell Creameries entered a guilty plea in a case in which he is accused of hiding a listeria outbreak that food safety watchdogs say led to the deaths of three people in 2014 and 2015. 
• Paul Kruse entered a guilty plea for one charge of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce March 9 in a Texas federal court. He also agreed to pay a $100,000 fine. In exchange, the federal government dropped wire fraud and conspiracy allegations.
• The plea comes months after a mistrial in which a jury could not agree and nearly three years after the federal government started bringing charges over the fatal outbreak.
• The Blue Bell ice cream contamination led to the hospitalization of 10 people — three of whom died — in four states, federal safety regulators said. Blue Bell was hit with a class action lawsuit in 2015 over the outbreak.

Blue Bell ice cream contamination overview:

• Who: The former CEO of Blue Bell, Paul Kruse, is on trial in federal court in Texas.
• Why: Kruse is accused of felony conspiracy and fraud for allegedly concealing listeria contamination from customers in a 2015 outbreak that killed three people.
• Where: The trial is ongoing in a Texas federal court.

(Aug. 9, 2022)

The former CEO of ice cream giant Blue Bell Creameries is on trial in federal court in Texas, accused of hiding a listeria outbreak food safety watchdogs said led to the deaths of three people in 2014 and 2015. 

Paul Kruse faces a federal jury in Austin, Texas, in a trial that started Aug. 1 and is expected to run for three to four weeks, Reuters reports.

Kruse is charged with felony conspiracy and fraud for allegedly concealing from customers that the company knew some of its products could be contaminated with listeria prior to the outbreak.

The ice cream manufacturer eventually voluntarily recalled all of its products in April 2015 following the listeria outbreak after finding several of its production facilities were contaminated. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) later announced that the Blue Bell ice cream contamination led to the hospitalization of 10 people — three of whom died — in four states. Blue Bell was hit with a class action lawsuit in 2015 over the deadly listeria outbreak.

Blue Bell’s former CEO wasn’t honest about ice cream contamination, prosecutors allege

Now the U.S. Justice Department is hoping to see Kruse take responsibility for the outbreak, too. The department alleges Texas officials notified Blue Bell of potential listeria monocytogenes contamination after routine testing in February 2015.

As a result, Kruse “ordered his sales employees to pull products from customers’ shelves without disclosing the reason,” the department alleges.

However, if the retailers asked why, Kruse allegedly created the following statement for employees to use in response: “There was an issue discovered with one of our manufacturing machines” and Blue Bell was withdrawing the products from the market “until further testing can be completed.”

The statement made no mention of listeria, prosecutors said. 

The indictment focuses on Kruse’s public response when confronted with Blue Bell’s listeria problem, saying he did not order a recall of all Blue Bell products until about two months after the company received the first reports of contamination.

Under current Blue Bell President Richard S. Dickson, the company has agreed to pay $19.35 million in fines, forfeiture and civil settlement payments over the outbreak, Food Safety News reports.

Last year, the ice cream maker argued Two Travelers units breached their obligations under their insurance policies by refusing to defend Blue Bell Creameries’ executives in a lawsuit stemming from a listeria outbreak. 

What do you think of the former Blue Bell CEO’s trial? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

The Blue Bell ice cream contamination case is United States of America v. Paul Kruse, Case No. 1:20-cr-00249-RP, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

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