Back in April Blue Bell ice cream shut down and pulled all of their products off shelves. After outbreaks in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona, there were three deaths and ten people hospitalized. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration found Blue Bell products to be contaminated with bacteria. Now, five months later Blue Bell is finally starting to restock their products in different areas around Texas.

Blue Bell has a limited supply right now and is distributing slowly. They have been working on upgrading their procedures and sanitation in their facilities. On August 31, Blue Bell released products in the Austin, Houston, and Galveston area of Texas. It is also available in parts of Alabama.

Over the next few months, Blue Bell will release products over five phases. The first phase has been completed in parts of Texas. Blue Bell’s second phase will be releasing products to southern Oklahoma and North central Texas. Phase three will release products to Southwest Texas and central Oklahoma. Finally phases four and five will complete distribution in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas. They will also begin distribution in Arkansas, Florida, northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

Flavors available currently are vanilla, chocolate, cookies n’ cream, great divide, and buttered pecan. They are slowly adding to the selection of flavors. Frequent Blue Bell buyers have been stocking up on their favorite ice cream. Alex Gibbs ’18 recently brought Blue Bell ice cream back from Houston, Texas. She went to three different stores to find chocolate.

“The chocolate is my favorite because it is different than other chocolate ice creams and makes a good milkshake,” Gibbs said.