How much do you love ice cream? If you're a fan of desserts in general,
chances are you routinely crave this sweet, rich, frozen treat that always
seems to hit the spot — whether it's enjoyed piled high on a waffle cone,
buried under an avalanche of sundae toppings, or eaten straight from the pint.
While it's great fun to make your own ice cream or grab some at your local scoop shop,
virtually every supermarket in the U.S. features freezer cases with a
staggering variety of brands and flavors to enjoy at home.
Which brand comes to mind when you think of supermarket ice cream?
Maybe it's Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-born company known for its unique pints like Chubby Hubby,
Chunky Monkey, and Half Baked. If this is the case, you're not alone. Ben & Jerry's was the
top-selling supermarket ice cream brand of 2019. Or perhaps it's Häagen-Dazs, one of Ben & Jerry’s
closest competitors. The European-sounding but Bronx-born maker of classic flavors like
cherry vanilla and chocolate chip cookie dough is another long-time favorite. Lots
of ice cream lovers rank these brands highly, but what about the less desirable brands?
Have you ever come across Blue Bell in your supermarket's freezer case? If so,
you might want to avoid it: in a Mashed survey of 618 people living in the U.S.,
19.74% of participants cited this brand as their least favorite grocery store ice cream option.
Founded in Texas in the early 1900s, Blue Bell ice cream is sold in 23 states and is
available in unique flavors like Cookie Two Step, which is vanilla ice cream sprinkled
with a little brown sugar, packed with chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate chip cookie dough.
There's also Moo-llennium Crunch, which is vanilla ice cream studded with chunks of dark
chocolate and creamy caramel, plus roasted pecans, chopped almonds, and walnut pieces.
Sounds pretty delicious, right? The company is an ice cream behemoth, raking in about $671
million in sales annually and enjoying 52% of the ice cream market in its home state.
So what's the deal with Blue Bell? While the Mashed survey respondents might not
like this brand, a lot of supermarket shoppers do:
it consistently ranks among the top-selling ice creams available in stores.
And it's a decent value as well — at least, as far as premium ice cream brands go.
Blue Bell's signature half-gallons retail for about $7 at Walmart. And its other flavors,
like Rocky Road, Peaches and Homemade Vanilla, and Buttered Pecan sound tasty, too.
It's possible, however, that Mashed survey participants were thinking of a massive 2015
Blue Bell scandal when selecting the brand as their least favorite.
"We've learned that deaths linked to ice cream tainted with bacteria
were part of an outbreak that had actually been going on for years."
Back in 2015, some Blue Bell products were contaminated with Listeria.
According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Blue Bell's then-president, Paul Kruse,
was informed by Texas state officials about the contamination in one of the company's plants.
But instead of taking prompt action to contain the outbreak, Kruse went in a different direction.
He decided against issuing an official recall of the contaminated goods and instructed
store employees to pull the "Listeria-tainted" products from freezers without telling customers.
Blue Bell didn't issue a recall until five people living in Kansas fell ill
with a severe bacterial infection after eating the tainted ice cream.
So, those ranking Blue Bell low on the list might be remembering this unsavory event.
"And all 30 of the samples that we tested, tested positive for listeria."
What other ice cream brands fell short in the survey? The similarly named Blue Bunny, which
got its start way back in 1913, was designated as the least favorite by 18.12% of respondents.
Next up is Edy's, which is known as Dreyer's in the West and in Texas.
This brand secured 16.5% of the vote. Breyers fared only slightly better at 16.18%.
The brands disliked by the fewest respondents are Baskin-Robbins and Haagen-Dazs. 11.17%
and 7.77% of survey respondents chose these two respectively as their least favorite brands,
meaning that plenty of folks out there enjoy a
classic scoop of Pralines 'n Cream or Caramel Cone every once in a while.
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