The company hasn’t said where the ice cream made at the Alabama facility, which is about 800 miles from Austin, will be distributed.

Blue Bell Creameries, which began test runs at its Alabama plant last month, said: “We are producing ice cream”.

“Our staff has visited the plant and determine it meets standards, and Blue Bell is entitled to produce any time they would like”, he said.

The Oklahoma and Texas plants linked to the massive recall remain closed and it has not yet been determined when production at those facilities will resume. The ice cream giant has manufacturing plants in Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma.

About 1,400 employees were furloughed in May, and about 750 full-time and 700 part-time employees were laid off, after the company recalled all products in the face of Listeria findings.

A message left for a Blue Bell spokesman for comment was not immediately returned.

But with production resuming at the Alabama plant (and that full parking lot in Brenham) there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. All infected were hospitalized, but three patients from Kansas were reported to have died from listeriosis.

Listeria is a type of bacteria that can cause serious illness, particularly in older adults, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.

The Blue Bell Company announced in their website their intent to address the listeria problem through extensive cleaning, decontamination and retesting.

Blue Bell production stopped early this year after the company pulled its products from stores nationwide because of Listeria contamination. However, Jenny Van Dorf, Blue Bell spokeswoman, said that they still don’t know when the products will be rolled out in the market.