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Georgia: Schools not required to pull Blue Bell ice cream but some do

FILE - In this April 10, 2015, file photo, Blue Bell ice cream rests on a grocery store shelf in Lawrence, Kan. Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries issued a voluntary recall Monday, April 20, 2015, for all of its products on the market after two samples of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream tested positive for listeriosis. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)
FILE - In this April 10, 2015, file photo, Blue Bell ice cream rests on a grocery store shelf in Lawrence, Kan. Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries issued a voluntary recall Monday, April 20, 2015, for all of its products on the market after two samples of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream tested positive for listeriosis. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File) FILE - In this April 10, 2015, file photo, Blue Bell ice cream rests on a grocery store shelf in Lawrence, Kan. Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries issued a voluntary recall Monday, April 20, 2015, for all of its products on the market after two samples of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream tested positive for listeriosis. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)

ATLANTA — Authorities say Georgia schools are not required to discard Blue Bell ice cream products, but some of the state’s largest school systems say they are doing so.

Matt Cardoza, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, said Tuesday that school districts are not required to pull the products.

Representatives for some of Georgia’s largest school systems — including DeKalb, Cobb and Cherokee counties — say they’ve stopped serving Blue Bell ice cream after the company announced a voluntary recall.

Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries this week issued a voluntary recall for all of its products on the market after some samples tested positive for listeria, a potentially deadly bacteria.

In DeKalb County Schools, spokesman Quinn Hudson said no Blue Bell products will be distributed in schools for the rest of the school year.