Blue Bell to announce flavors returning to store shelves on Monday

Blue Bell trucks have been delivering product to select warehouses for weeks, in anticipation of the company’s return to market next Monday.

Although Blue Bell will return to certain stores around Texas and the U.S. on August 31, the ice cream will not be coming back to the 40 Acres anytime soon, according to Rene Rodriguez, director of food service for the Division of Housing and Food Service. The first flavor that will be tempting our taste buds is Homemade Vanilla.

Federal officials report link between five cases of listeria in Kansas, including three deaths, and Blue Bell Creameries products. The first of the five phases includes the Houston, Brenham and Austin areas, as well as parts of Alabama, including Birmingham and Montgomery.

Blue Bell’s production plants in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama have been closed since the company recalled all of its products in April after a listeria contamination. The ice cream that will make it to retail shelves is being produced at Blue Bell’s Alabama facility. The facilities in Brenham and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma are still undergoing facility and production upgrades and are not yet producing products. North Texas is included in Phase Two of the roll out at an unspecified date.

There’s no timetable for how long each phase will last before moving on to the next.