BY JAMES DRAPER
There’s a long chain of custody between the ice house and the consumer’s kitchen – somewhere along the line, 24 thumbtacks ended up in a Gladewater family’s frozen fare.
It’s sparked an investigation at the source as the purveyors Tyler’s Super Quality Ice do their due diligence following local digital creator and photographer Chloe Ellis Facebook complaint.
Jeff Tyler, president of East Texas-based Tyler Beverages is simultaneously concerned about the circumstances and fully confident the metal brads did not originate at his operation.
“Our system that we have here is a sealed system,” he said Thursday morning. “There’s nobody that gets to it.
“All our bags of ice are made in the system, and they are sealed in the system.”
Nothing can fall in, Tyler added. Nothing can be inserted. There’s no glass, no thumbtacks, nothing in range of the ice machines’ works.
GHS alum Chloe Ellis posted pictures Thursday morning showing a pile of ice in her sink, the bag in question and white-capped pushpins mixed in and separated from the melt.
“I bought this bag of Ice from Zipps in Gladewater. This could have ended badly, to think I just made my small children iced juice in a clear pitcher!” Ellis wrote. “I have contacted the Ice company, they are planning to meet up and obtain the bag and the thumbtacks!”
The manager on duty at Zipp’s said he had neither seen the post nor had he been contacted about any bagged ice pulled from the store’s cooler.
Tyler said his employees have been in contact with Ellis and are arranging to get the plastic bag in question, just in case.
“We’re doing our due diligence to check date codes and things like that,” he added. “There’s nothing to call for any type of recall at this time.
“We’re doing our investigation. That’s as far as I can answer right now.”
With Ellis’ post gaining traction on social media and commenters already suggesting lawsuits, Tyler confirmed he has conferred with the company’s legal representation, but his focus is on assuring Ellis the 35-year-old Tyler-based company keeps its system properly isolated.
“She had mentioned to my people that she had opened the bag a day or two earlier,” he said. “I just know that our system doesn’t allow for anything like that to get in it.
“She may have accidentally put them in there, she may have had kids that put them in there. Maybe someone else somewhere else did it, but it wasn’t from here, I can tell you that.”
It’s sparked an investigation at the source as the purveyors Tyler’s Super Quality Ice do their due diligence following local digital creator and photographer Chloe Ellis Facebook complaint.
Jeff Tyler, president of East Texas-based Tyler Beverages is simultaneously concerned about the circumstances and fully confident the metal brads did not originate at his operation.
“Our system that we have here is a sealed system,” he said Thursday morning. “There’s nobody that gets to it.
“All our bags of ice are made in the system, and they are sealed in the system.”
Nothing can fall in, Tyler added. Nothing can be inserted. There’s no glass, no thumbtacks, nothing in range of the ice machines’ works.
GHS alum Chloe Ellis posted pictures Thursday morning showing a pile of ice in her sink, the bag in question and white-capped pushpins mixed in and separated from the melt.
“I bought this bag of Ice from Zipps in Gladewater. This could have ended badly, to think I just made my small children iced juice in a clear pitcher!” Ellis wrote. “I have contacted the Ice company, they are planning to meet up and obtain the bag and the thumbtacks!”
The manager on duty at Zipp’s said he had neither seen the post nor had he been contacted about any bagged ice pulled from the store’s cooler.
Tyler said his employees have been in contact with Ellis and are arranging to get the plastic bag in question, just in case.
“We’re doing our due diligence to check date codes and things like that,” he added. “There’s nothing to call for any type of recall at this time.
“We’re doing our investigation. That’s as far as I can answer right now.”
With Ellis’ post gaining traction on social media and commenters already suggesting lawsuits, Tyler confirmed he has conferred with the company’s legal representation, but his focus is on assuring Ellis the 35-year-old Tyler-based company keeps its system properly isolated.
“She had mentioned to my people that she had opened the bag a day or two earlier,” he said. “I just know that our system doesn’t allow for anything like that to get in it.
“She may have accidentally put them in there, she may have had kids that put them in there. Maybe someone else somewhere else did it, but it wasn’t from here, I can tell you that.”