⁍ Paul Kruse was charged with seven criminal counts related to his alleged efforts to conceal from customers what the company knew about listeria contamination in some of its ice cream products.

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⁍ Indictment said Kruse ordered sales staff to pull the products from store shelves without telling retailers or customers why.

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⁍ Blue Bell ultimately began recalls after 10 reported cases of listeria were linked to its products.

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– Five weeks after Blue Bell Creameries was ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties in connection with a 2015 listeria outbreak, the company’s former president has been indicted on wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Paul Kruse was charged with seven criminal counts related to his alleged efforts to conceal from customers what the company knew about listeria contamination in some of its ice cream products, the US Department of Justice said Wednesday, per Reuters. The Oct. 20 indictment said that after Texas health officials told Blue Bell in Feb. 2015 that some products had tested positive for listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacteria, Kruse ordered sales staff to pull the products from store shelves without telling retailers or customers why. Kruse also told employees to tell customers who asked that there was an ‘issue’ with a manufacturing machine at the Brenham, Texas, factory where the products came from, the indictment said. Blue Bell ultimately began recalls after 10 reported cases of listeria were linked to its products.