March 2009

 Four big states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Alabama—have been added to the recall of Torres Hillsdale Country Cheese’s Asadero and Oaxaca soft Mexican-style cheeses.

The recall was expanded to the four states after initially covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The recalled cheeses were

Torres Hillsdale Country Cheese of Reading, Michigan has recalled  Asadero and Oaxaca soft Mexican-style cheeses due to potential Listeria contamination.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause Listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease. Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths. The

Those Canadian researchers who found that searches for “listeriosis” spiked before last summer’s outbreak caused by dirty ready-to-eat meat cutting machines at Maple Leaf’s Toronto plant was announced publicly did not at all surprise us.

Canadians were getting sick prior to the public announcement, and their doctors were giving them suspected causes of their illnesses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late Monday warned Americans not to eat Queso Fresco Fresh Cheese Mexican style soft cheese (two specific lots) or any Queso Cotija Molido Mexican style grated cheese manufactured and distributed by Peregrina Cheese Corp. of New York City.

The cheese products could be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Two

According to the Spokane Newspaper, Washington State health investigators are still attempting to solve several cases of food-borne infections that have caused several pregnant women to lose their babies since January.

They suspect the women in Yakima, Klickitat and King counties ate unpasteurized cheese that was contaminated with listeria bacteria. Listeria is often found

Canada has boosted requirements for testing and reporting of listeria in processing plants that make cold cuts and other ready-to-eat (RTE) meats.

The new requirements take effect immediately, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and will mean production facilities must implement “rigourous environmental testing” for listeria and to “immediately” report positive results to CFIA.