A police department in Texas has posted a photo of a possible solution for miscreants in viral videos licking ice cream and putting it back on the shelf, to people’s shock and disgust.
In the photo, posted by the Fulshear Police Department, several gallon tubs of Blue Bell ice cream are seen secured by locking devices.
The mechanism keeps the lid from being easily removed, though it is not clear how much of an obstacle it would be for an individual determined to violate food.
Ice cream licking incidents caught the public’s attention earlier in July after a girl was caught on camera in Lufkin, Texas licking a Blue Bell ice cream gallon. There have since been copycats.
The post on the Fulshear Police Department’s social media pages sparked several reactions.
“Ty Blue Bell. We deserve to know our foods have not been violated by creepos,” one person wrote.
“I bought a container of hummus two days ago at Meijer and when I opened it, the plastic seal was gone,” wrote another. “I could see where it had been glued on but it wasn’t there. The whole carton went in the trash.”
“There is a new ’thing' (for lack of a better word) where kids are going into stores and licking food/spitting in it and putting it back on the shelf,” someone else explained.
Other Ice Cream Protection Measures
After several “ice cream licking” videos went viral and were met with horror by millions of people, some stores have taken drastic measures.In one case, a teenager was seen licking a container of Blue Bell ice cream at a Walmart near San Antonio, Texas. A man in Louisiana was arrested after doing the same to a Blue Bell tub.
Those measures include displaying warning signs, security, a lock on the freezer door, and a button to call for an employee.
Notorious Ice Cream Incidents
A Louisiana man was arrested after licking a tub of Blue Bell ice cream before putting the container back, apparently in a copycat attempt of a similar viral video.The video shows the man, identified in news reports as Lenise Martin III, licking the ice cream at a supermarket in Louisiana. Two children were reportedly nearby.
Days before that, police located and identified a teen from Texas who licked ice cream at Walmart before putting it back. The video of the incident went viral, drawing horror from people on social media. “You foul,” says a voice off-camera in the clip.
