I love Texas, but I hate Blue Bell. The Dallas Cowboys, Justin® boots, and beef barbecue are all home-grown favorites, but Blue Bell, even before its latest product recall, didn’t register on my list of Texas favorites.

As grocery stores re-stock freezer shelves with the company’s cold treats, Texans and other U.S. Southerners have a choice to make: Do we go back to Blue Bell? I personally hope many of us won’t be able to swallow the bitter taste the sweet treat company left in our mouths.

Texas pride is awesome, but why are we celebrating a company like Blue Bell? Are we proud that it knowingly profited from tainted ice cream leading to the deaths of a few and sickness of many? This current recall wasn’t a recent lapse – CNN reports Blue Bell knew about its unsanitary issues for more than five years and did not take appropriate action.(http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/news/companies/blue-bell-ice-cream-listeria)

Do we accept that Blue Bell refused to publish its ice cream ingredients online? After many fruitless internet searches, I only found the product ingredients list on a label. If you’re curious, I’ve included them below, and compared them to Breyer’s® Natural Vanilla.

Notice that listeria is an ingredient Blue Bell decidedly left off. With its products now back in stores, I hope Blue Bell left that one out. And as a Texan and nutritionist, I’d ask that high-fructose corn syrup be removed in the future as well.

As I said before, I’m a proud Texan, but I’ve been confused by my fellow Texans’ blind faith in a company that has mired our state’s reputation and ignored good health practices. We have many reasons to be proud, and we should expect more from a company that labels its products “Made with loving care” from Texas. I’m not asking anyone to give up a favorite summertime treat, but I hope in the future, rather than blindly following a brand, we pay more attention to what goes into our mouths.

eat right. be fit. live well.

Dr. A