Blue-Bell Recall: Do We Really Know What We're Eating?

Blue Bell, the 108-year-old ice-cream giant, recalled all of its products this week after their famous chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream tested positive for listeriosis. So the question is, do we really know what we're eating?

Just a month ago, Blue Bell made its first (ever) recall when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked ice cream contaminated with listeriosis to three deaths at a Kansas hospital. Not long after that, five others in Kansas and Texas were sickened with the disease.

Listeriosis is a serious infection contracted by eating foods contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes. Surprisingly, the disease primarily affects newborns, pregnant women, older adults, and adults with weakened immune systems. Persons in fairly good health are also affected. You might say everyone is at risk.

Naturally, everyone goes into panic mode and wonder whether they have ingested the bacteria. Every ache or itch becomes suspect. Some individuals experience hysteria to the point of creating symptoms where none exists. Therefore, it helps to be able to identify symptoms.

Symptoms in pregnant women

Fatigue and general body aches are signs that an expectant mother has contracted listeriosis. While body aches and fatigue are not life-threatening, any infection during pregnancy can result in the death of the fetus in ways such as stillbirth, premature delivery, and miscarriage.

Symptoms in other people

In people other than pregnant women, symptoms include headache, loss of balance, confusion, stiff neck, fever, muscle aches, and convulsions.

There may be millions of people experiencing the above-mentioned ailments; who may not be affected with listeriosis. Many people have muscle aches and headaches. So what is the distinction? That's simple. The key in all of this is whether you ate Blue Bell products within the time frame of the recently announced listeriosis outbreak.

You would think it's completely safe to buy foods off the grocery shelf. And for the most part, it is. However, things change; people change; and the world suffers...because change is not always good.  The next time you're grocery shopping, ask yourself:

• What's in this? Is it safe to eat?
• Was it produced in a sanitary (or unsanitary) environment?
• Are the employees clean and safety conscious?

You have to wonder.

We foolishly trust too many processes that we know nothing about. For instance, what do we know about the stuff we buy and eat without giving it a second thought? You don't know if and employee dropped the cookie you're eating on the floor, picked it up and put it in the package. Do you ever wonder what's in the milk? Or in sodas?

No. If you're honest with yourself, the answer is 'no'. You don't think about what's inside the foods you buy. So the question remains. Do you really know what you're eating (and drinking)?