Mac & Cheese and Blue Bell Ice Cream Recalled in Belize

in the past week two food items available in Belize have been recalled on Friday March 30 Blue Bell creameries shoot a recall of five of its ice cream products and on Tuesday March 17 Kraft Foods issued a recall of over 200,000 cases of its popular mac and cheese the original flavor in the case of crafts the recall was prompted after some consumers reported finding metal pieces in their boxes this past Tuesday we received an official letter from the craft company informing us of the recall so we were aware and we knew everything that was happening they also informed us that we did not need to worry because the stock that we received were not within those that were affected of course we still took the extra precaution we know that the dates that have been affected are those between September 18th and I believe I have the letter right here it's September 18th and october eleventh so we took the extra precaution we checked our entire stock shipments that have been arriving before shipments that we presently have and neither of them have those dates so we do not have any worry that we have any of the stock that is affected by the by the metal contents senior public health inspector Haveeru pooja says that both public health and baha have been actively following up on the recalls we have also visited other major supermarkets within velicity and will continue to do so to see where we are in 25 product but so far we have not come across it while we are the exclusive distributors of crafts we're not the only ones that are bringing it in we have parallel importers and believes that bring in a variety of different products and kraft mac and cheese is a very good seller in Belize so that is one of the top items that they're bringing it in where they are buying it from we have no idea if it's out of the US maybe costco sam's club we have no idea so while we know that our stock is safe I cannot say the same for theirs so for that reason we would strongly encourage all customers out there if you're in a supermarket you're not sure whether the product is a sign Casper because they all look the same please check the days just to ensure that the day is not fall between September 18th and october 21st and once they do not fall between that year fine what would be your advice to the public about purchasing the product well the need to arm look specifically at these labels especially the best before this as I just mentioned and they could and if that manufacturing quote is the rdc to then they should not purchase it and beyond that I'm reported to the health department so we can visit supermarket I'll remove it from the shelves if they are there while the craft recall includes very specific manufacturing dates that will help consumers to know which products are safe in the case of Bluebell 5 ice cream products are being completely removed from the market this is after the FDA issued a consumer advisory after three deaths in Kansas were linked to listeria bacteria as a result of consuming tainted Blue Bell products the symptoms can take a few days or a few weeks to appear after consumption we received information that certain products that could have been imported into beliefs were contaminated with Listeria and as such we we communicated with baja and we visited the some establishments but more importantly the agent for that product for those products and have they been able to confirm whether or not contaminated products are in the country well it is difficult to see because for those products we did not really receive specific information having to do with batch numbers it mo had to do with the period when they were manufactured and the recommendation that had been given is that once these products are interfaith they must not be consumed they need to be removed and disposed of anyone who would consume these products can come down with them several symptoms from fever mostly diarrhea but at times you can also cause headache stiff neck confusion and convulsions so if anyone consumes an ADIZ products have any of these signs or symptoms then they need to seek medical care immediately if you come across these products you should not consume it you shall not eat it you need to dispose of it you can then also notify either the public health department or the Baja offices so that we can in turn code visit these establishments and remove them emily is only three of the five products are available in Belize and of the three bluebells chocolate chip country cookie and almond bar are the only two that are currently in the market thus our pop green apple bar was previously sold and this is all that remains from the stock distributor of Bluebell Williams out says all his customers have been informed to remove the items from the freezers and destroy the remaining stock in storage at arctic cold limited on Phillip Coulson highway was removed by the Ministry of Health today a sample of which will be tested we don't move farther power out at the market and miss world market every shop with all the merely move any odd probably likes to close now these are the only two products that need to be removed yeah they're the only two pro we inputted you have another five well we know how it we are going to collect some of the samples and run some tests to see if we can detect the Listeria it's a listeria is a very very bad book that it does grow in refrigeration temperature so that's the dangers of it that you think that because it's in refrigeration that it's okay but actually that bow actually grows under that condition so we have our lab and we will do some some some testing and to see if we can isolate the book according to sow customers who've already purchased the almond bar and chocolate country cookie products can return them to William store and their money will be refunded businessman Jack Charles of extra house supermarket issued a statement today confirming that he is the businessman who wants to import rice into the country even though believes is self-sufficient on the staple Charles writes that last September came to his attention that the price of rice ranged from one dollar twenty cents to one dollar and forty cents per pound according to Charles he called the CEO of agriculture and Express