Those with a weakness for ice cream have been left thoroughly repulsed after footage showing a girl licking a tub of Blue Bell before popping it back in the freezer went viral.
The notion of ‘screaming for ice cream’ quickly took on a whole new meaning, with many supermarket shoppers left feeling chilled by the prospect of copycat incidents in their own local store.
One dedicated Texas Walmart appears to have gone above and beyond to cool their customers’ fears, sharing a tongue-in-cheek picture of an ‘armed’ employee guarding the freezer section with a water pistol.
As reported by Yahoo! Lifestyle, employees at the Corpus Christi store posted a picture of the employee – whose name appears to be Ruben – folding his arms and holding the plastic water gun.
The caption on the post – which has since been deleted – read:
We’re guarding our Blue Bell ice cream for your weekend party, what a great way to cool down in the Hot Texas heat!
Ruben isn’t the only one of a mission to deter any would be pranksters. On Saturday, July 6, the Bellaire Police Officer’s Association shared a pic of their officers standing imposingly before a fridge packed with ice cream.
The caption read:
Ain’t nobody licking our Blue Bell!
Blue Bell have previously released the following statement about the compromised ice cream:
We have identified a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas, as the store where the malicious act of food tampering took place. Our staff recognized the location in the video, and we inspected the freezer case. We found a Tin Roof half gallon that appears to have been compromised.
Based on security footage, the location and the inspection of the carton, we believe we may have recovered the half gallon that was tampered with. Out of an abundance of caution, we have also removed all Tin Roof half gallons from that location.
The Lufkin Police Department has been notified and is taking over the investigation.
The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers. Food tampering is not a joke, and we will not tolerate tampering with our products. We are grateful to the customers who alerted us and provided us with information.
The Lufkin Police Department has since confirmed a female minor and her partner have both ‘admitted to the act’.
Walmart have removed Blue Bell Tin Roof half gallons from their shelves as a precautionary measure, with the viral video still continuing to turn people’s stomachs.
The US supermarket chain has made the following statement regarding the tampering incident according to ABC13 Eyewitness News:
We want our customers to be assured that the products they purchase at our stores are safe. We’ve worked with Blue Bell and the Lufkin Police Department and out of an abundance of caution, Blue Bell Tin Roof half gallons have been removed from our shelves.
Fortunately, Blue Bell have explained any evidence of tampering would be immediately noticeable to a customer, meaning you should still be able to enjoy a scoop or two without too much fear.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.