The second it became clear that Blue Bell was the source, they voluntarily shut down their facilities and recalled EVERYTHING they currently had on the market, around 8 million gallons of ice cream.

They tested, disassembled and thoroughly sterilized, then retested their manufacturing equipment. At least one major piece of equipment was thrown away, presumably because they couldn’t guarantee it was safe.

They tracked down the source of the “outbreak” and submitted a root cause analysis (with some info redacted here) to the FDA. And then they slowly started manufacturing again, releasing a few flavors at a time, testing each shipment before sending them out.

This happened over a year ago. They’re still recovering.

They threw away MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep people safe instead of, you know, trying to keep everything under wraps. (Honestly the tagline here should be “We Scare Because We Care” or somethin.) Blue Bell is a fricken solid and honest company.

So, yeah, enjoy your ice cream! ALL OF BLUE BELL IS DOING EVERYTHING PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE TO KEEP IT SAFE AND DELICIOUS.

now, not everything people self-medicate for actually has a proper treatment. i’m pretty sure the reason my uncle made sure to be slightly drunk at all times ‘to round the sharp corners off of things’ was sensory processing disorder. i have that too, and i just kind of accept that i’m going to randomly get my brain sandpapered from time to time. there is no medication for that. all you can do is dull your senses. i’ve chosen not to, but i can’t blame him for his decisions. when a ringing phone feels like getting hit upside the head with a frying pan, liver damage sounds like a fair price to pay.

anyway, it seems really self-evident to me that people don’t enjoy living the life of an addict, they do it because the alternative looks worse. people don’t get addicted to substances just for funsies. they start making a habit of taking something because of insomnia, or grief, or headaches, or depression, or seething undirected rage and terror they can’t put a name to – something that they can’t ignore or shrug off. and for whatever reason – lack of access, lack of knowlege, lack of money, or it just plain doesn’t exist – they aren’t able to apply the Approved Correct Remedy. they use what they can get.

and his old college roommate weighs in

B, A, G

G, G, G, G

A, A, A, A